[obol] Frigatebird PHOTO and VIDEOS

From: Jay Withgott <withgott@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2015 19:43:49 -0800

Hello OBOL --

After consulting Steve Howell's 1994 paper in Birding on Magnificent and Great
Frigatebirds, as well as other sources, I, like Mike P., am leaning toward
Magnificent Frigatebird -- and more specifically, an apparent "2nd-stage" or
"Basic 2" immature, maybe a female. However, I've sought some feedback from
Steve and from the ID Frontiers group, so that we can gather and apply as much
expert knowledge as we can.

Suboptimal (the bird was distant, the images are zoomed!) photos and videos are
posted at a Picasa site here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114481402865976904547/FrigatebirdAtSeasideCove?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMaghLjFuZbkDg&feat=directlink

The 4 videos are also posted on YouTube here:
http://youtu.be/xQyHkXQm1yU

http://youtu.be/LVG2aMtyHzU

http://youtu.be/98h5wurPCRk

http://youtu.be/hKqhP-WQ1YE

If you are having trouble getting the High-Defintition versions or reading the
captions on the Picasa site (which seems often to happen), you may wish to try
the YouTube versions.

HOWEVER, I feel that some of these images may be a bit misleading in appearing
to show dark color on the head, possibly from distortion/pixelation due to
distance. Our clear impression in the field was of essentially an all-white
head. However, it's possible that the images are capturing nuances and details
we did not appreciate with our eyes, and I'll be interested to hear what Mike
and Steve W. think. As far as I'm aware, none of us noticed any
cinnamon/rusty/tawny color on the throat or breast, which may suggest that
eliminating Great Frigatebird is fairly safe.

I wish the images were better, but this is what we have.

I wrote up a full account of my observations for my colleagues on the OBRC
before studying the photos, videos, and references, and then wrote an addendum
today. Hopefully we'll be able to resolve the species identity to our
satisfaction, but we'll take the time needed to get it right.

Jay Withgott
Portland

[obol] Frigatebird PHOTO and VIDEOS

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