Hi --

Barry and I drove to Violette's Locks this afternoon, arriving about 2 pm. There were several birders already there looking at the bird in their scopes. It was sitting with two D-C Cormorants on its favorite log. The bird was noticably smaller, slimmer and much less bulky than the Double-Cresteds, with a longer neck and decidedly slimmer bill. The head was less deep in relation to its length than that of the D-Cs. In our Questar (at 55x and then at 80x) we could see the sharply angled rear margin of the gular patch, which contrasted with the more rounded margin of the other two cormorants. At first we could not see the tail, but it obligingly moved slightly and the proportionately longer tail was visible.

However, the bird flew upriver at about 2:15 and we left at 3 pm it had not reappeared. There were lots of birders maintaining a vigil -- hopefully it will come back.

A White-winged Scoter was also present.

Gail Mackiernan  and Barry Cooper
Colesville, MD