Hi, guys.

Actually, that alcid is a juvenile Pigeon Gullemot. No adult molting
into or out of breeding plumage would have that dark-capped murre
look (juveniles are at times mistaken for murres), the barring on the
sides, or the very small amount of white on the wing coverts. Some
juveniles lack white on the coverts entirely and are all dark, others
look even more like a murre than Bob's photo. Juvenile alcids are
rarely illustrated adequately in field guides.

Dennis
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net


--------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 15:51:24 -0700
From: "B & P Bell" <bellasoc at isomedia.com>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Marbled or Long-billed Murrelet?

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
------------------------------

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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