https://www.flickr.com/photos/117627445@N06/sets/72157661883027426
I am sending my Flickr album of 8 pictures of a bird that was at First Landing
State Park Beach today from 11:05AM – 11:30AM. I had a good clear view of it
through my scope and not too far but didn’t have my camera so for the first
time ever tried to digiscope with my phone and it didn’t work great but does
show the bird with the marks I saw, just not clear. The pictures do also show
it in comparison to the DCCOs that it flew in with and perched.
I picked it up coming down just off the beach but out over deeper water in a
line of cormorants from Ft. Story and landing on the closest pylons to the
boardwalk/overlook/stairs at First Landing. It was flying on the end of the
line of DCcormorants and it appeared a bit more slender, wings a bit narrower
and longer and of course much lighter in color overall. Looked weird! As
flying, could see yellow beak going to a reddish orange base around the mouth
area. Bird was very light in color almost an off white w/ orangey gingery
brown highlights. Legs and feet appeared dark but not sure of color. Throat
and breast and stomach area all off white to very light tan. The only dark on
the bird was the upper back of the neck and the upper shoulders and you could
see the definition as it turned into white on its lower back and feathers in
the pictures. The tail seemed short and when perched the bird kept fanning it
out and it looked like there was a dark line down the middle of it, but I think
that was the dark edges of the outer long tips of the primaries that were
bissecting the view of the tail, since otherwise, it appeared all uniformly
light colored. I don’t think the flapping of the bird in the line of DCCO was
that distinctly different from the rest of the birds but it was trailing the
line and lower to the water by just a bit. Admittedly, I was trying to make
sense of the plumage and what the bird could be.
In my Seabird book the only thing it looked like and marking and color wise was
a Red-footed Shag? but they are smaller and far from home. It was very light
in appearance compared to the DCCOs though. My actual view through binocs and
scope was much better and clearer than the pictures suggest. Do you think it
is just a leucistic DCCO? or GRCO?
Any thoughts? I wanted to get this out so anyone in the vicinity of CBBT or
First Landing could keep an eye out for it in this last few moments before
dark? Is it just a weird cormorant that doesn’t warrant any hoopla? or is it
something else?
The bird was no where to be found after I looked at some ducks nearby the pylon
it had perched on. I hiked down to see the gulls and terns at the corner of
the beach by Ft. Story and when I returned still couldn’t relocate the bird,
that was around 1:15.
Any comments/help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tracy Tate
VA Beach VA
