In response to some of Mike's questions about recovery: Greetings Everyone,
Erik Brunkhe and I made the decision to remove the bird from the water around 11:30am on Sunday Nov. 8th. When the bird was collected, it was essentially in the same exact position it had been in since we arrived at 8:45am Sunday morning. The head was up, the wings were folded in, and the legs were out behind the bird. In my opinion, the bird was no longer alive when we arrived at 8:45am, but there is no way to say for sure. I was told that the bird was seen via use of flashlights/spotlights at some point in the early morning but I was not told what state it was in during those sightings. After discussion with the other birders on site, we came to the conclusion that this was an excellent specimen and should be recovered if it was indeed dead. Erik and I removed it from the water at approx. 11:30 am. At that point, the bird had sunk lower in the water but maintained the same position it held the entire morning. The body was quite stiff and completely cold when we recovered it. We brought the bird on shore to show the other birders. This was truly a beautiful bird. There were no visible injuries or signs of trauma. The Bell Museum was very excited to hear that we were able to recover it and they will be taking it. This was my first time going out to sight a rare bird and it was certainly a learning experience. If I receive any information from the museum, I will pass it along to everyone. Thank you to Andrew Longtin for transporting the specimen down to the museum and a huge thank you to all of the other birders who made the morning interesting and informative! Cheers, Sarah Glesner St. Louis County ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
