Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 19:45:34 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: David Mozurkewich Subject: PG Purple Gallinule In-Reply-To: <000d01c14395$ef921180$8583c640@oemcomputer> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII The Gallinule Wade Stephen found was relocated by Rob Hilton, Lisa Shannon, Paul Pisano and myself this afternoon about 5PM. Paul and I decided to view the bird from point-blank range in good light allowing us frame-filling views through my scope. Rob and Lisa opted for the far-side-of-the-lake technique and somewhat less perfect light, but still had good views. Paul shot some video, hopefully it will come out. Paul and Lisa have drawings, all of which should be better than my description. We all had a great time. For about twenty minutes it stood on the rocks, with a little bit of flying and swimming thrown in for variety. Then it walked into the vegetation and disappeared from sight. The bird looked nothing like a Common Moorhen. It had a plump, chicken-shaped body and a small head. When fully stretched, I was surprised at how long its neck appeared, giving it more the shape of a rail than a coot. The bill was about three quarters the length of the head and thick with upper and lower surfaces parallel at the base. The outer third of the upper mandible tapered down to form a blunt tip. The lower edge was straight throughout. The bill was gray tipped with dull, reddish-orange at its base. The large dark eye was placed forward on the face. The oval frontal shield extended from the top of the bill back past the eye and was a dull green, perhaps with a tinge of blue. The legs were dull yellow from the front and sides, dark from behind. Each foot consisted of four amazingly long toes. The feet stuck out behind the bird in flight with its bright yellow soles as obvious in flight as was its bright white, fluffy undertail coverts. Its wings were long, extending past the end of the tail. The secondaries were short. The outer primaries were much longer than the inners resulting in the primary tips being well separated, and evenly spaced along the folded wing. Its, upper tail, rump, mantle and wings were dark grey-brown with the wing coverts tinged bright (metallic) green. It's hind neck and top of head were lighter than its back but still fairly dark and grey. The sides of its face were a bright tawny, fading into a white throat. The white of the throat was separated from its white belly by a dark gray breast band. The breast band was nearly complete but broken across the center of the breast by light gray running from the neck to the belly. In some lights, the breast band was also tinged green. In its relaxed posture, the white of the throat extended down to the breast, but when its neck was fully extended, the dark gray from the breast band extended about half way up its neck. It had dark flanks. That this was not a moorhen is obvious. The bird seems to be a very good fit for juvenile Purple Gallinule, but I don't know if there are other contenders among the South American species in this group of remarkably long-range wanderers. As the gang-of-four was leaving, Wade Stephen returned with his camera in hand and Brad Lanning appeared shortly thereafter. Hopefully we'll hear about their success. In any case, it is quite likely the bird is still there and will very likely be there tomorrow. This bird is probably most easily found at first light. Lake Artemesia is reached from Greenbelt Road. Take the Kenilworth Ave Exit from the capitol beltway, a couple miles East of the 95/495 split. From there, you can reach Greenbelt Road heading south on Kenilworth then west (right) on Greenbelt Road. Alternatively, go north on Kenilworth to Cherrywood Lane, then south (left) past the metro station to Greenbelt Road. From this corner, head west (right) one traffic light and turn right at the sign for Lake Artemesia. You will make a 90 degree turn to the left and pass under Greenbelt Road. At the first intersection where you may wonder which way to turn (Berwyn Road), the parking lot will be directly in front of you. Walk south from the parking lot (away from Berwyn Road). When you get to the lake, good luck. Wade saw the bird on his walk to the left. We found it to the right. From this vantage point you will see a group of weeping willow trees along the right (west) shore. Looking along the shore to the left of the willows, you will see a paved path approaching the lake and to the left of that, a bench. The bird was on the rocks and in the vegetation about half way from the willows to the path. You can reach this section of paved path by walking to the right, taking the first two left turns both paths paved). The party begins at dawn. Bring scope, camera, and notepad. The main course has been provided. Thank you, Wade, Dave David Mozurkewich Seabrook, PG MD USA mozurk@bellAtlantic.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================