2017: For the Birds and Bird lovers CAUTION LARGE PHOTOS

Should I relax the Image Rules for this Thread

  • Yes, with a warning about large images

    Votes: 5 100.0%
  • Yes, but in the way I will explain in a post

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No; standard AW image rules are fine

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .

MaeZe

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 6, 2016
Messages
12,772
Reaction score
6,476
Location
Ralph's side of the island.
Hooray!!!!! Iniko is alive in the nest and the mother, Redwood Queen, is near the nest so she's feeding the chick. The father, Kingpin, remains missing but he could still be found.

I meant to post all this in the explore cam thread but didn't see it and I just needed to post earlier. I posted a little more about finding Iniko in that thread.

Here's the link to the other post.
 
Last edited:

ChaseJxyz

Writes 🏳️‍⚧️🌕🐺 and 🏳️‍⚧️🌕🐺 accessories
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2020
Messages
4,524
Reaction score
6,203
Location
The Rottenest City on the Pacific Coast
Website
www.chasej.xyz
That's great news!!!

I also saw yesterday how firefighters were using the condor cams to help them gauge where the fires were and how bad things were, which helped them a lot in make plans.
 

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,881
Reaction score
7,167
Location
Virginia
I'm so happy to hear this. Thanks for sharing the news!
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,611
Reaction score
7,289
Location
Wash., D.C. area
Anyone know anything about Atlantic puffins?

I can't imagine these guys were puffins, but everything about them said "puffin." Unfortunately I did not have my binoculars, and I could see were the white on the heads and white bellies while they swam, but the camera on my phone couldn't zoom in enough to see the bills. The voice sounded right from the recording on Wikipedia, but the pattern was different; imagine the voice on the recording giving distinct calls rather than long moans. There was a group of maybe 70, diving and flying short distances so the group sort of morphed along.

Except that they were on the Potomac sixty miles from the Chesapeake, and 150 miles from the ocean where they are said to winter 200 miles or so out to sea. There's no way they would be this far inland, this time of year, is there? The Birds of Virginia Wikipedia page and this website says they have been seen in the state, but that was surely on the coast and not inland. They seemed to fly like puffins, landing on the water by skidding on their butts almost upright until they stopped. The only other bird close in the book is bufflehead, but bufflehead are silent and these ones today were quite talkative.

Verdict: Am I wishful thinking nuts? Or could these have been puffins?
 

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
23,079
Reaction score
10,775
Location
Where faults collide
Website
doggedlywriting.blogspot.com
Could they have been some kind of auklet? Those are in the same family as puffins, I believe. Don't know the range of the different auklet species, though. Checked, and looks like they are up in Alaska, not the east coast :p

Mergansers have white on their heads and breasts, though their bills aren't anything like puffins.

I didn't realize puffins were found in the US except on those islands off the coast, but I know their numbers have been increasing.

Black skimmer is another bird that feeds by skimming the water surface in the SE US, but I think those tend to stick to the coast too. Maybe some flew up the river a ways? The Audubon site says they can be driven inland occasionally.
 
Last edited:

Helix

socially distancing
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
11,695
Reaction score
12,077
Location
Atherton Tablelands
Website
snailseyeview.medium.com
This is where eBird might be helpful. You can zoom into birding hotspots near you and see what's been reported recently. (It's not exhaustive, though.)

The front page is https://ebird.org/home

Click on 'explore' to search by species or location: https://ebird.org/explore

I typed in Virginia and it brought up the state map with lots of coloured squares indicating species density (based on reports). If you zoom in on the location you're after, it will bring up clickable hotspots. That will give indications of the species around currently and historically.

Here are the most recent reports for the whole of Virginia: https://ebird.org/region/US-VA?yr=all
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,611
Reaction score
7,289
Location
Wash., D.C. area
Seeing the bill would have been proof positive. Alas, I nearly brought the binoculars and now I'm kicking myself.

Common merganser is a strong candidate, although mergansers have white backs in flight and as far as my memory and fuzzy too-far-away pics show, these backs were dark. Hooded merganser is another possibility, but their bellies are dark while today's bellies were white.

Cornell University's sightings map doesn't show ANY inland sightings south of Cape Cod, and except for the St Lawrence none this far inland, so if these were puffins it would probably make bigger news. It would be cool, though.
 

MaeZe

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 6, 2016
Messages
12,772
Reaction score
6,476
Location
Ralph's side of the island.
I'm a fan from the explore cam experience. This is my understanding and repeated in Wiki:
Atlantic puffins lead solitary existences when out at sea...

So I think the fact you saw a "flock" rules out Puffins. They gather together to nest. It's off-season now and will be until spring. We watch the little guys (one egg per parents) go from egg to fledgling and then they just leave the borrow with little fan-fare. They don't stay on the rocks long then it is off to sea where they live for a number of years before returning to the burrow rocks. It's so sad when they leave to think they'll be alone in that dark cold water. :cry:

Their call is unique, literally sounds like a chain saw.


Edited to add, from Wiki:
They congregate for a few days on the sea in small groups offshore before returning to the cliff-top nesting sites.
But it is not spring so I don't think you'd see a flock this time of year.

They also fly funny, short wings, fat body. You can see them in the explore cam highlights. And you can hear what they sound like.


https://explore.org/livecams/puffins/puffin-burrow-cam
 
Last edited:

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,611
Reaction score
7,289
Location
Wash., D.C. area
MaeZe: thanks for the info! Yeah, the evidence is adding up against puffins.

Helix: Scaup has good possibilities, although they look like they have too much white on them. They do occur here this time of year, though.

Looks like I know how I'll be spending my weekend! Bringing the binoculars this time, and hoping they're still around.
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,574
Reaction score
6,396
Location
west coast, canada
Is it possible that they might be puffins, driven inland by all those East Coast storms?
I'm on the West Coast, and the 'almost erect' takeoff and landing would make me think 'loon', but the markings sound very wrong. (And the beak would be hugely distinctive - see thread on loon stabbing a predator.)

And I assume you're enough of a birder to identify a Canada goose if you saw one? Long, skinny neck?
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,611
Reaction score
7,289
Location
Wash., D.C. area
Roxxsmom: ooooh, winter coloring of common goldeneye. Still looks like an awful lot of white on the sides and wings. But, I'm now convinced (despite how cute puffins are) these weren't puffins.

Frimble: for sure not Canada geese, and too small even for loons. These were slightly smaller than mallards. Plus, I've only ever seen loons as individuals or mating pairs, and not in flocks, nor were loons this talkative that I know of. I also didn't know loons needed up to a quarter mile to take off! These today were chatterboxes and could get airborne with--dunno, 10 yards?--flapping runs.
 
Last edited:

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
23,079
Reaction score
10,775
Location
Where faults collide
Website
doggedlywriting.blogspot.com
Roxxsmom: ooooh, winter coloring of common goldeneye. Still looks like an awful lot of white on the sides and wings. But, I'm now convinced (despite how cute puffins are) these weren't puffins.

Frimble: for sure not Canada geese, and too small even for loons. These were slightly smaller than mallards. Plus, I've only ever seen loons as individuals or mating pairs, and not in flocks, nor were loons this talkative that I know of. I also didn't know loons needed up to a quarter mile to take off! These today were chatterboxes and could get airborne with--dunno, 10 yards?--flapping runs.

I was wondering, because they are found in the Chesapeake Bay and in rivers and lakes too.


I was wondering about these too. They're in the same family as the puffins. I think of them as more Pacific, but they appear to have them in the East too.
 
Last edited:

ChaseJxyz

Writes 🏳️‍⚧️🌕🐺 and 🏳️‍⚧️🌕🐺 accessories
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2020
Messages
4,524
Reaction score
6,203
Location
The Rottenest City on the Pacific Coast
Website
www.chasej.xyz
Use the Merlin Bird ID app: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ You can put in your location, date, and various jizz-ings of the bird (size, color, behavior, etc) and it will give you a list of suspects, including ones that would be rare/uncommon. It even takes into account seasonal/sexual/age morphs. It's really good, and free!

Also it's about time I've supplied some bird pics. He was very polite and sat on his chair and ate his vegetables.
 

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,881
Reaction score
7,167
Location
Virginia
I subscribe to a couple of ebird Rare Bird/Rare Sightings lists as well as some similar Twitter feeds, and I think a verified flock of Atlantic Puffins in the Potomac would have had all those sources shrieking with excitement, and their subscribers scrambling to grab their binoculars and go look for themselves - Thanksgiving dinner be damned. Hell, I would have been one of them. I'd love to see a puffin.

My money's on Hooded Merganser.
 
Last edited:

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
Hooded Mergansers are pretty common along the Eastern region, they do flock and they talk to each other.

Atlantic Puffins flock in breeding season, but they would be huge news outside of Maine and the Maritimes. I mean, front page news like the South American hawk that visited Portland Maine last winter.
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,611
Reaction score
7,289
Location
Wash., D.C. area

Nope, not a murre. The ones in this video bellyflop onto the water, while in the short video I got yesterday they skidded along their tails with body access 90 degrees from the water surface. Also we're pretty far south for them here.

Cool app, Chase! Looks like one to download for sure. Sweet bird pics too.

Agree there is no way these are puffins. Hopefully they'll be there this weekend when I can bring the book and binoculars. Hooded merganser seems to be the easiest answer that resolves the most questions though.

ETA: Of those that come up on the Merlin app, hooded merganser is the best match. Plus, this video of hooded mergansers matches the behavior I saw yesterday, with the frenetic circling, the short flights, and landing angles. I couldn't really hear the birds over the narrator, but it adds up. I thought the ones I saw had more white on their bellies under the wing, but there we are.
 
Last edited:

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,611
Reaction score
7,289
Location
Wash., D.C. area
The verdict is in! Bufflehead.

I got 30 minutes of perfect sunshine right at the end of the day.and they were cooperative enough to still be there and sit nicely on mirror-still water. Cute little things! And ones I didn't have marked in my book yet.

Now it's a life goal to see puffins. I'll always get to be the goofball who actually wondered in disbelief if he'd seen puffins in Virginia.
 
Last edited:

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,881
Reaction score
7,167
Location
Virginia
Aw, I love buffleheads! Glad you got to see them again and get a positive ID.
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,611
Reaction score
7,289
Location
Wash., D.C. area
Okay, this rare bird sighting is real this time (not another feather-brained puffin lark): Barnacle goose in the Potomac in DC. Usually found in northwest Europe and arctic.

I didn't find it myself, but came across half a dozen gawkers, one of whom is probably the poster to the birding news listserv, during a walk. Pretty cool, even if it's probably an escapee from somewhere nearby.
 

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,881
Reaction score
7,167
Location
Virginia