[Birdnet] neotropic cormorant seen at 7 p.m. Saturday evening (9/1)

[Lu Giddings]

Following the directions originally posted by Tim Avery, Dennis Shirley
and I arrived at Quichapa lake just before 4 p.m. Quichapa Lake is found
in Iron county, adjacent to Cedar City. Jack Binch was already present.

We started off on the east side of the lake, as per Tim Avery's original
instructions but soon found ourselves moving to the west side of the
lake via 7700 West (?) and 2000 South, as suggested by Larry Tripp.
There were two large clusters of cormorants north of the dike and a
healthy number of cormorants south of the dike. We walked south along
the western lake shore to the dike, carefully scanning all visible
cormorants but without success.

Around 7 p.m. we walked back along the shore to a point almost directly
east of 2000 South and our parked vehicles. Jack left us at this point
and went to join Ed Leite and his girlfriend on the east side of the
lake. There was a cluster of cormorants across the lake on the shore
almost directly east of us. The neotropic cormorant was in this group.
It had not been with the group at this site when we arrived earlier in
the day, and we have no ideas as to where it may have been during this
time.

It did not strike us as being *glaringly* different. We felt the
differences are conspicuous but subtle. It would be very easy to
overlook this bird, especially mixed in with any number of its
double-crested cousins. Kudos to Rick for picking this bird out of the
several hundred double-crested cormorants present. We noted that:

- The bird was observably smaller than the double-crested cormorants
(dcco) around it on land. While swimming it sat about 4-5" lower in the
water (at least) than the dcco around it.
- It's tail is notably longer than that of dcco and roughly the length
of the bird's neck while in flight.
- While there was some limited lightness in its breast it was for the
most part a solidly dark (but not black) bird, as compared to the
conspicuously light-breasted juvenile dcco. It seemed somewhat darker
than the photo of a juvenile neotropic cormorant found at "The Birds of
North America" but not as dark as photos of adults in standard and
alternate plumage at this same site.
- The head and bill were smaller than that of the dcco. The bill
appeared to be a light blue-gray as compared to the yellow-orange of the
dcco. The eyes seemed to be in the feathered portion of the head just
above the bill rather than in the orange-colored tissue that seems to be
a portion of the bill for dcco.

It would have been impossible to identify this bird without scopes.
Binoculars would not have been adequate. The bird could be seen clearly
and in excellent light. It was unfortunately observed at sufficient
distances that no photographs were taken. It was studied for roughly 30
minutes, until it flew to a roost several hundred yards north of the
dike with seemingly all of the other dcco present at Quichapa.

The same bird was observed by Ed Leite et. al. in the same place and at
the same time from the 1400 South observation vantage point first
described by Tim Avery.

A number of other birds were also observed while searching for the bird.
We were pleasantly surprised by the large number and variety of
waterfowl and shorebirds present. There are as listed below. Also of
note: a double-crested cormorant with a completely gray-white tail. Have
any of you ever seen anything like this before, or is this simply a
fluke case of partial leucism in an individual bird?

Lu Giddings

Total Count: 39 species
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Pintail
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Clark's Grebe
American White Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
White-faced Ibis
Osprey
Northern Harrier
American Kestrel
American Coot
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope
Ring-billed Gull
Californian Gull
Common Tern
Mourning Dove
Common Nighthawk
Say's Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Common Raven
Northern Mockingbird
American Pipit