Winter plumage Pigeon Guillemot?

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington

----- Original Message -----
From: "Josh Hayes" <josh at blarg.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 9:55 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] seeking alternative explanations for odd sighting


> Today (Saturday) we took the ferry over to Bremerton to visit some
> friends.
> On the way over, during the slow part in the passage, my wife claimed to
> see
> a bird which she was unable to identify.
>
> I never laid eyes on it, so can't comment, but her description is, general
> duckid shape, bufflehead size or a bit smaller, nearly all white with only
> a
> little black, observed diving at least a couple of times.
>
> Now, I know good and well that we don't get smew down here (so, what's the
> four-letter abbreviation for smew? SMEW?), but I'm at a loss to figure out
> what it could be. She's an experienced birder and would not confuse a
> bufflehead, so I'm thinking maybe not a duckid but something else? An
> alcid?
> Or some smallish grebe that's mostly white? But I can't think of anything.
> Anyone have a suggestion?
>
> And hey, wouldn't it be COOL to get a smew down here? Aside from in the
> zoo,
> I mean?
>
> -Josh Hayes, josh at blarg dot net
>
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