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Re: Howard County cormorant

From:

Maurice Barnhill

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Sat, 11 Nov 2006 21:19:33 -0500

June Tveekrem wrote:

> This afternoon in Howard County I photographed what I thought was a 
> Double-crested Cormorant, but it looks a little weird. What's with the 
> white line behind the orange/red area on the chin? I don't think it's 
> a trick of the light, because it shows up at different sun angles.
>
> Photos are posted at
> http://birds.southernspreadwing.com/maryland/
> Click on "Unusual or non-identified birds" from the menu on the left.
>
I took the liberty of changing the subject line because after about a 
half hour of work I am not certain of the identity of this bird.  The 
white line bordering the gular patch on that bird is the textbook mark 
for Neotropic Cormorant, but there are some things that bother me.  
First, the line is uncharacteristically narrow and doesn't show the 
usual backward point.  Second, to my somewhat undereducated eye the bird 
looks to me to have the general head size/shape of a Double-crested 
Cormorant.  The issues are 1) how much variation in the white there is 
in Neotropic; 2) whether the bird possibly has some immature plumage 
left; and 3) if the bird is in changing plumage whether there is ever a 
narrow white line in the corresponding plumage of Double-crested 
Cormorant.  A look through some of the pictures found from a Google 
search found birds that look like this one that were identified as 
Double-crested and several birds from the range of Neotropic,  
identified as Neotropic, that also looked rather similar. 

I will be very interested in the comments this bird attracts.  You might 
want to give a more specific location in case anyone wishes to look for 
it. If no one more knowledgeable than I gives a good argument for the 
identity of the bird, it might be worthwhile to get the pictures looked 
at by someone who regularly sees both species together.

-- 
Maurice Barnhill 
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Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716