Subject: [Tweeters] Thick-billed Murre still in Port Angeles harbor
Date: Jan 14 22:53:16 2014
From: B Boekelheide - bboek at olympus.net


Today (1/14/14) a few of us relocated a Thick-billed Murre in Port Angeles Harbor, perhaps the same one seen on the Port Angeles CBC on 12/28/13 (and perhaps the same one seen in PA Harbor last winter, 2012-2013). Today it was hanging out with Common Murres in the middle of the harbor, visible with lots of optical power south of the picnic area near the entrance to the Coast Guard base. We watched it off and on for about an hour, as it moved around and dove frequently. Fortunately it almost always hung out near Common Murres, which allowed for good comparisons of bills, coloration, and posture. It is a basic-plumage adult, with a dark head, white throat, clean white sides, relatively shorter stouter bill with decurved tip, and a white tomial line on its upper mandible, which was barely visible today at long distances with the best optics.

The Common Murres in the harbor are in a wide variety of plumages right now, from basic to alternate to in-between molt, so be careful. When you see the TBMU well next to a COMU, it stands out as a different bird, regardless of plumage.

Bob Boekelheide
Dungeness