GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pelagic Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, photographed at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon. It is taking nesting materials back to the rock, where many of these birds were busy nesting. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 8 June 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Life Science
Education
Comments
I'm going to call that a pelagic cormorant. It's clearly a cormorant from the overall silhouette (despite the clever bit with the nest material) , and according to the trusty Sibley, pelagic is the only cormorant I'd expect to see nesting in Oregon with those white flank patches.
Posted by: John Callender | June 29, 2009 12:13 PM
Ditto. Pelagic Cormorant.
White marking on side. Rounded top of head. Only large wingspan, black colored ocean shore nesting based bird I can picture in the Northwest and Pacific Coast region.
That was fun. In all of my years in traditional educational environments we never did this.
I wonder where the 'world' of our education will be in the future? Maybe, we will get to redirect public funds to more broad based, passionate teachers...
I know who I would want to take some science classes from!!!
Posted by: Chris | June 29, 2009 12:36 PM
One more field mark -- the straight neck. Double-crested, Neotropic and Great Cormorants all fly with their necks kinked to one side. I only bother mentioning this to rule out the incredibly unlikely possibility of a Great Cormorant attempting to nest in Oregon. (Actually, I guess the statement that "many of these birds were nesting" would rule that out already. Oh, well ...)
By the way, it seems that June 9 is a bit late for nest-building in a large resident species -- anyone out there from the NW know if this is typical timing?
Posted by: psweet | June 29, 2009 5:48 PM