Mystery Bird: Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola

OK, I'll have a go, but don't think I'm right. I think we can eliminate Grebes, wings look wrong, Cormorants, too much white, Divers (Loons to you Yanks), too much white, and possibly Ducks, but may come back to them. The only group left are the Auks. I think that's as far as I'll go for now.

I'm going with a male duck whose specific epithet means "to become white", according to the online Latin-to-English translator I just checked. The black and white pattern looks about right, especially when I include what you can see of the head and neck underwater, and the diving behavior looks like what I'm used to seeing when I watch these guys diving in the Franklin Creek channel at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh.

Common Murre! In breeding plumage. Not a Thick-billed because it was taken in California. Some features that suggest that - tail doesn't look like a duck; black and white pattern looks correct; diving like a murre rather than a duck (either butt up or a little jump into the water) or grebe (little jump too).

German network engineer? Its head is in the sand… Well, Ok, underwasser. Same thing.

(How's your networking problem?)

Based on the amount of white showing underwater on the back of the head, if that is what I am seeing-I think this is a male diving duck whose scientific name is closely associated with Alexander the Great's beloved horse.

Pretty sure Ken and I are talking about the same duck. But note that Alexander the Great's horse only gets you as far as the genus, and there are two other North American ducks in that genus. But if one narrows it down to those three, I think it's pretty easy to figure out which one this is.

OK John and Ken, I'll buy it!

Philip II of Macedon: "O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee."

I'll be home to see the photo for myself in about an hour, but perhaps in the meantime one might be able to replicate Alexander's success and turn it towards the sun so that it can no longer see its own shadow!

So John, with no "small noise" the "cay" to this particular door not required, all one must do is understand the conceit of a bison...

hmmm, two in favor of guillemots (murres), two in favor of ducks- assuming this bird has been photographed in mid-dive (John#2, hydrobatidae#3, Ken#5) then behaviorally one should be able to lean to one or the other with a certain degree of confidence...

wings open = guillemot, wings closed = diving duck

Right, looked at a lot of pics and books and now think it's a duck. One of the "Ox-Heads" probably the "whitish" one.

Actually, David, two things to add to your behavioral clue. First, some ducks actually dive with their wings open -- scoters, eiders (which would show a lot of white), Long-tailed Duck, and Harlequin Duck. (Possibly more outside N. Am.)
Second, Alcids don't use their feet underwater, so when they dive, their feet usually come up out of the water before they submerge.

wow, you guys know your birds!

I was just going to say duck!

(I'm impressed)

Thanks Paul, don't forget I was doing this blind until I got home!

I remember watching guillemots for hours on end off the north-east coast of Scotland when I was on duty in the "Watcher's Tower" (Surf-Sea Rescue) and dare I say it, often collected their eggs as a hard-boiled snack to ward off the typical Scottish Summer nights' chills (40°F)...

I think the combination of posture, coloration on the back, and especially the head markings support my comment at #8, agreeing with John, Ken, and Adrian that clangula ("small noise") and islandica ("cay") are out, and the big-headed one (conceited bison) is in...

(Paul, don't know if you caught my last comment on the Yellow-rumped Warbler, but I attached two photos that supported your Myrtle r4-6 and Audubon r2-6 white markings- great field marks for me to add to my notes, thanks!)

Just to highlight the diving shapes of a couple of species:

diving Goldeneye (wings closed)

diving Canvasback (wings closed)

diving Common Eider (wings half-open)

diving Surf Scoter (wings half-open)

diving Black Guillemot (wings fully open)

diving Thick-billed Murre (wings fully open)