[obol] Another beached Blue-footed Booby (?)
- From: "Wayne Hoffman" <whoffman@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "OBOL" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:38:39 -0800
Hi -
This evening my neighbor Bob Loeffel, who has done beached bird surveys for
decades, called me to ask for help in identifying a bird carcass he and his
wife retrieved from the beach about 1 mi. north of Lost Creek SP (about 3
mi. S of Newport). The picked it up Nov. 6.
The remains consisted of both wings, connected by the shoulder girdle bones.
He measured the wingspan at 59" and the wing chord at 16". All the flight
feathers are present, and most of the larger coverts on both upper and lower
sides, but the wing musculature is missing, with the skin and feathering
that covered it. The feathers that would be responsible for any white
patterning on the underwing are missing.
I examined it, and am pretty sure it is an immature Blue-footed Booby. The
wing shape is good for a booby. One character I noted, that I think is
found on Boobies and not much else is that on the under wing, the largest
secondary coverts are nearly as long as the secondaries themselves. These
coverts end about 1 cm short of the secondary tips. These coverts are dark
slaty gray, a little paler than the secondaries, which with the primaries
are blackish.
Wayne
Other related posts:
- » [obol] Another beached Blue-footed Booby (?) - Wayne Hoffman
