Thanks to several of you, the answer to my i/d query was Black-faced
Cormorant.
Thanks to Storm the pic is on Flickr at
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2655/3881290562_993e9f4e44_b.jpg
It was taken on by Kim Croker at Quiet Corner, the northern end of the
Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary, on the east of Port Phillip Bay, on
29/8/09.
I thought the various comments were interesting so I've collated the key
ones:
Jeff Davies: The bird's a juvenile Black-faced Shag, dark bill, darkish
facial skin, slight dark streaks in the white lateral breast feathers that
overlay the carpal bend of the wing. I think the pale base patch at the
base of the lower mandible is an illusion created by some retained smudgy
feathers in strategic spots. The bird therefore has the diagnostic feathered
base to the bill which separates it from Pied.
Peter Menkhorst: Juvenile cormorants can be quite difficult to id, but from
the description given I'm pretty confident that this one is a Black-faced
Cormorant. The black cap extending below the eye pretty well seals it -
Pieds always have a clear white gap between the black crown and the eye. The
dusky throat and upper neck are also typical of juv Black-faced.
However, the best features to distinguish these 2 species are structural -
the shape of the bill and forehead. Black-faced Cormorant has a rather
narrow bill which slopes upwards at the base to meet the steep forehead. The
bill of the Pied Cormorant is longer and deeper and rather uniform in depth
for its entire length. The forehead is lower and flatter giving an almost
reptilian profile. Another really good feature is the shape of the boundary
between the feathered and bare parts of the face. In the Black-faced it
forms a clear zig-zag from immediately below the eye posteriorly to the gape
which is well behind the eye, then forward to the lower mandible then
posteriorly again to the posterior point of the bare gular pouch under the
chin. In Pied Cormorant this boundary is far less angular with just a modest
indentation at the gape.
Michael Norris
37° 59' S 145° 0' E
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
