tags: Brandt's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brandt's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus, photographed in Monterey, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 May 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Its specific name, penicillatus is Latin for a painter's brush ("pencil of hairs"), in reference to white plumes on its neck and back during the early breeding season and its common name is from the Old French, "cormorant": corp, or "raven" + marenc meaning "of the sea" (from Latin marinus; marine).
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Wow. I never realized how pretty the breeding adults of this species were up close. Frank Sinatra had nothing on these guys in the "Old Blue Eyes" department. :-)
This bird's specific epithet reminds me of the 1928 discovery for which Scotsman Alexander Fleming (go Scotland!) was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945.
Well, it's an easy one, so I won't give it away, but the blue throat pouch is the obvious field mark. I agree with John Callendar; I've seen these many times, but never noticed the blue eyes. Next time I'll look more carefully.
Nice photo. I haven't seen one of these in the wild. They don't come on over to Minnesota too often. :)
This is a terrific portrait. Members of this family have some of the most beautiful eyes of all birds, though I never noticed this species' blue eyes either. I guess I just figured they had lovely sea-green eyes like the two species that occur in my neck of the woods.
The blue gular sac and its buff edging are good fieldmarks.
I actually know what it is!!! I recognised the type of bird by the beak and head shape, and followed it up with the colors. Now I know what a gular pouch is!
Closer to home, maybe, its generic name is also a familiar one to Arizona birders.
These birds have alien eyes.
What an amazing photograph! Thanks to Joseph Kennedy (the photographer) for sharing!
I don't get it, Murray, even though I've lived in AZ for many years. Phalacrocorax? "Bald raven?" Could you please 'splain?
Pete: I was a newcomer to Tucson in the early '70's (yes, I'm ancient!), and Gale Monson was still very active. He and another friend introduced me to "The Birds of Arizona" by Herbert Brandt. He wrote in the "collecting". i.e., shooting and egg-pilfering, days but his book was often referred to.
Ah! Gotcha, Murray. Fortuitous timing too, as there's lately been a discussion of that very book on the AZ-NM birding listserv.