Hi Bob

This is a Pigeon Guillemot that is on the way out of "breeding" plumage and into "winter". It's head is too large, it's neck is too large, the bill is too heavy and too long, and if it was a murrelet the remains of breeding plumage would be mottled (or marbled) brown. The general appearance of Marbeled Murrelet is of a smaller, lighter bird and it is somewhat unusual for it to hold the neck up and extended.

Nice picture tho -

Brian H. Bell
Birding & Natural History Guide
Woodinville WA
mail to bellasoc at isomedia dot com
----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Whitney
To: Tweeters at U. Washington. Edu
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 11:19 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Marbled or Long-billed Murrelet?


This bird was seen at Point Wilson a few days past. I know that the Long-billed is rare here and the plumage looks a little different than the Marbled. Doing a comparison with other images I have the bill looks a little longer than the Marbled's bill.

Take a look at my flickr site, what do you think this bird is?



Bob Whitney

Port Townsend, WA

mailto:rlw at cablespeed.com

www.flickr.com/photos/rlw/







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