Despite the light frost this morning it seemed like a good day to look for a neotropical bird. After studying Dave Czaplak's pictures I felt sure that the bird was a Neotropical Cormorant and decided to visit Seneca this afternoon. I arrived about 2:15PM at Violettes Lock. The vantage point is about 100 yards upstream along the towpath where some short trails take you to the river's edge. There were five cormorants perched on their favorite log in the middle of the river which is at least one quarter mile and probably three or four tenths of a mile away. The bird in the middle of the group was obviously smaller; another DC Cormorant joined the flock. I was able to study the bird for about 45 minutes. It preened most of the time but it was sitting in profile so that whenever it was not preening it was in good view. Fortunately it was mostly cloudy because the bird would be backlit when the sun came out.
   From my notes written on the scene: The bird was significantly smaller than the five Double-crested Cormorants (first- and second-year birds) near it. Not only was it shorter but the body size was much smaller and more slender. The bill was much shorter and thinner than those of the DCs, and it was mostly pale, not yellowish or orange like the DC's, but with a trace of yellow near the base of the lower mandible blending into the yellow area below the eye. This was bordered by a pale area toward the rear forming a sharp angle pointing toward the back of the head. It did not taper downward like the patch on the DCs. The throat was dusky but I could not make out the color. It was not as dark as the bird pictured by Sibley but the duskiness was continuous down to the chest where it became very dark all the way to the undertail. The upperparts were very dark. At one point the bird was pushed into the river by one of the DCs. When it leaped back onto the log it was facing away from me as I was watching through the 'scope at 80X. Most obvious at that moment was the length of the tail which was longer in proportion to the body than the same ratio for the DCs.
   Andy Martin joined me for a short time and said he had been looking for almost an hour and that there were no cormorants out there earlier. I made seven calls to cell phones of local birders but got no answers. Later three of them called back and in the meantime Jim Stasz had heard my message and posted to MDOsprey. At 3PM the Neotropic Cormorant took off and headed toward the Virginia shore and upriver. I was able to follow it as far as the water intake on the Virginia shore before losing it. Three of the DCs also departed upriver. Dave Powell and Bob Mumford arrived shortly after 3 having seen Jim's message. With continued watching we saw two more DCs arrive from downriver. The neotropic returned unannounced about 3:25 to its same perch. I tried to get some video through the 'scope but it is not good, and left after about another 15 minutes. Someone else can pick up the thread after that.
   As Dave noted in his post yesterday this bird is not present all the time but it seems to return to the same perch. I don't know its frequency for the morning but I am sure someone will look then. I hope somebody can do better for photos than I could do and if the bird continues to hang around it may turn out to have regular rounds. Thanks to Dave Czaplak for persevering with this bird and correctly suggesting the identification and finally dragging some of us out there to look for it. Thanks to Jim Stasz for posting my message this afternoon. And as always thanks to Norm Saunders for making MDOsprey available to us for rapid communication.
   Good luck to everyone!
--
Bob Ringler
Eldersburg MD