First Day of Spring

Arrived at Cape Spear this morning for a morning vigil with sir Ed. Ended up spending 3 glorious hours watching the sea and the sky.

Sunrise started with a spectacular view of the solar eclipse:

This photo doesn't do it justice.

Was great to be one of very few in North America to see this natural event!

Then even fewer got to see the real drama:

To our surprise, flock after flock of Common Eider flew very close by the cape until finally one small flock decided to land directly off the cape which was enough to attract over 2000 in close to the point. Among the thousands of eiders there were 8+ King Eiders!

A line of eiders drawn across the sea:

Can you find Waldo, the King Eider (answer below):

They were so close you could watch them swimming under water:

Can you find Wanda, the Queen Eider (answer below):

 Adult male King Eider:

 Adult female King Eider:

A beauty day to start the Spring of 2015!

v-nigrum Common Eider

Today (March 8) Sir Edmund and I found a Common Eider that best fits the Pacific sub-species (S. m. v-nigrum) off St. Shott's on the southern shore to the Avalon peninsula. This sub-species has previously only been seen twice in the Atlantic ocean:

March 5, 2005 at Cape Spear, Newfoundland

February 19, 2014 at Varanger, Norway

And, last month, Bruce found what looks like it could be a hybrid between the Western and one of the Eastern sub-species.

Having never seen this sub-species I was surprised by how quickly it stood out from the flock of eiders it was with. It was easily detected in my first pass of the flock that was about 200m away. What stood out was the beaming orange bill:

I knew right away what it could be and quickly got Ed on the bird so that we could study it closely.

There was no problem seeing that this bird was quite a bit larger than the other eiders around it:

But the large size and bright bill aren't enough to confirm this sub-species. The clinching feature is the black "V" lateral stripes under the chin.

Thankfully, within 10 minutes the bird raised its head upwards to choke down a mussel and the black chin-stripes stood out. There was absolutely no question about the black V - it was a thick and unmistakable dark line that followed the contour of the lower mandible!

It was difficult to capture the black V with my camera, but it was partly visible when the bird was swimming away from us:

Some other key features:

One last feature that is hard to see on todays bird is the border between the green hind-neck and white face. On v-nigrum there is a faint extension of the green along the lower border of the black cap. This is not present in our regular S. m. borealis eiders.

In S. m. borealis the green hind-neck does not extend onto the face, and has a straight and distinct border with the white face:

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A beautiful bird! I won't be surprised if we start to see more of these beasts over the next decade. With the melting icecap, the Atlantic ocean will continue to be accessible to them. The question is, what else will follow the same journey? More eiders? ;)

And some more shots of our regular S. m. borealis Common Eiders:

Note the variation in bill shape and colour!

Interesting to see that other sub-species can also have black markings under the chin....

The Pacific Eider back on:

Black Guillemot at the same location was in nearly full breeding plumage:

(there was a lot of glare!)

Another Hybrid Diving Duck

Ever since last October I've been keeping my eye on one of the local Tufted Ducks. It had a noticeably large white area at the base of its bill, the tuft was more of a bun, and it seemed to have a subtle peak to the rear of its head - all suggesting some Lesser or Greater Scaup ancestry.

I got some decent photos of the individual in early February and only just today had a chance to review those photos. That in combination with Sir Edmund's report of a hybrid TUDU x Scaup to eBird last week made me review my photos more in depth.

Here's a photo of her from January 19, 2015:

And another from February 16, 2015:

The tuft, although present, is notably short. I liken it to a bun, whereas in a normal TUDU the tuft is more of a pony. This birds tuft has a more abrupt end, but it is thick/full. The female Tufted Ducks have a tuft that is longer but appears thinner.

The head shape of a female TUDU is rounded at the back of the head - the presumed hybrid duck has a subtle peak to the rear of the head. The tuft conceals the head shape though making the peak difficult to discern. That in combination with the large white area at the base of the bill lead me to believe that one of its parents (or grandparents) is a scaup. None of the other TUDUs have such a large white area - it is definitely an outlier, especially at this time of year.

Also note in the photo above that the back is slightly lighter brown in coloration in comparison to the TUDU that is in the background. This is the only photo I have that shows this, so it may be an artifact  or illusion due to lighting - but it was consistent in the series of photos from that day.

Deciding whether it is a hybrid with Greater or Lesser Scaup isn't so straightforward. But the apparent peaked head would suggest a TUDU X LESC hybrid.

The truth is that this bird was here last winter too. And at the time I thought it was a hybrid but never really kept track of the bird. I also remember some talk about a similar bird in the previous winter and managed to find some photos of it here. I'd say that it probably is the same bird and now has spent at least 3 winters in St. John's!

The odd female Tufted Duck does have some white at the base of the bill (see photo below), but it is always more limited. This photo shows the extreme of what I have seen in Newfoundland:

Some other random photos from the last few weeks:

^ note the lack of snow! Taken on Feb 16!

Common Gull and Ring-billed Gull: 

A Northern Shoveler seen today near St. John's: