Adam, thanks. I suppose you?re right, though besides not seeing any pale
undersides, I also thought these birds seemed too compact, too short and
fat, just too small to be Rhinoceros Auklets




By the way, there are a few Common Terns around Alki the last couple of
days, along with the regular Caspians.



--g



Gary T. Smith



From: Adam Sedgley [mailto:sedge.thrasher at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 9:47 AM
To: gsmith at smithandstark.com
Cc: Tweeters
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] question on small, dark alcids, West Seattle



Hi Gary,



These were most likely Rhinoceros Auklets. They often appear all gray but
sometimes their light colored belly/vents are visible.



Marbled Murrelets would be all brown or generally dark above and white
below. And as long as I am speaking in generalizations, Marbled Murrelets
are usually seen in pairs while you often seen Rhinoceros Auklets in small
flocks. I have encountered Rhino Auklets more frequently than I do Marbled
Murrelets while scanning Puget Sound in Fall/Winter.



Adam





On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 9:35 AM, Gary Smith <gsmith at smithandstark.com>
wrote:

This morning about 7:15 I scoped a line of eight small, chunky, ?all-gray?
alcids flying low over the water west of Alki Point, heading south. I
looked for any pattern or signs of light coloration, but didn?t see any.
They were at about ? mile out, and the cloud cover was putting a gray cast
on everything, so I?m not dead certain they were gray, but they were at
least darkish all over. It seems to me that the most likely choice would be
Marbled Murrelets. I?ve seen singles and occasionally doubles here this
time of year, but never a group of this size, and I would expect them to be
showing transition to basic plumage by now. I haven?t seen Cassin?s Auklets
here before but they seem like a better fit to what I saw. Do they fly like
this? Groups? Likelihood? Some other species? I?d love to have more
expert opinion. Thanks.





Gary T. Smith

Alki Point, West Seattle




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--
Adam Sedgley
S e a t t l e, WA
sedge.thrasher [at] gmail [dot] com