I expected a beautiful bird like in the books, but it looked odd.
I was not able to stay long to watch it as it swam in the chop,
but I did not notice pink on the breast. I saw darker lines on
a slightly gray head (including a line down the midline of the nape)
not the pale blue head as in the books. The bill was not bright
orange but a bit washed out. The head did not have the shape the
books show, and the bill was not as bulbous. (But there was no
doubt of ID - all the marks and patterns were there.) Some of the
differences I noticed might be due to lighting, some to variations
in the way the feathers were held. But I figured some might be
that it was still changing. Sibley shows the nonbreeding adult
male from July through November with a brown head and breast
and the bill shaped like today's bird at Myer's Point. From December
through June it should show the breeding pattern that I (mostly) saw
today, plus have the bulbous top of the bill which it lacked. Does the
bill shape change back and forth each year (as Sibley seemed to imply
by not calling that picture a *second* summer male), and if so does
the bill shrink or does part drop off? Or does it just grow once, making
this the only time in this bird's life that it will have the breeding plumage
feathers but not yet have the bulbous bill?
--Dave Nutter
On Nov 24, 2010, at 10:08 AM, "Kevin J. McGowan" <k...@cornell.edu> wrote:
After looking at my photos I am guessing the Myers Point King Eider is a second-year male, based on the rather small orange swellings at the base of the bill. In older males they should be big and rounded on top. Our guy doesn’t look at all like that.
Kevin
From: bounce-7433660-3493...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-7433660-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Kevin J. McGowan
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 12:51 PM
To: CayugaBirds
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] King Eider photos (bad)
I put a few photos of the King Eider male at Myers Point this morning at the bottom of this page:
http://picasaweb.google.com/KevinJ.McGowan/Birds2010.
The distance and choppy water made it difficult to get much of anything, and I didn’t manage to get much of anything. But, there they are.
Kevin
