Tag Archives: Pouchbills

What’s Washed In – March 10

1 Reply

MdRvr 2014 0301 931 BRCOb

Sara and Peter at Mad River South (CA) just found this last week.  Let’s take a look at the feet. Webbed, completely webbed, four webbed toes: Pouchbills. Since the bill is less than 10 cm and the wing chord is less than 35 cm, we know we are looking at a Cormorant.  If we take a closer look at the wings, we’ll notice that the outer primaries cut out on the leading edge.  We can tell this is a Brandt’s Cormorant because the bill is dark and the chin feathers are tan (Pelagic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, or Red-faced Cormorant).

GrifPrdy20140301_601a_blki

GrifPrdy20140301_601c_blkiGrifPrdy20140301_601b_blki Time for some wing practice! Take a look at these great photos from Terry and Carl at Griffith’s Priday State Park on the South Coast of Washington.

Here we have gray upperwings with contrasting dark tips. Using either wing key (Alaska, West Coast), we check the upperwing for stripes – nope.  Next, we turn to the primary feathers, noticing that some have white fingernails, but no windows (large white spots, not at feather tip). The inner primary plumage is gray, not white-tipped (Red-legged Kittiwakes – Alaska guide).  With a wing-chord of 30 cm, this is a Black-legged Kittiwake.

Using the West Coast wing table, the 30 cm wing chord puts us in the “large” row. Our column is “gray mantle with white linings and black tips” –  either a Black-legged Kittiwake or a Red-legged Kittiwake. Underside of primaries is more pale than the mantle  – this is a Black-legged Kittiwake.

 

Graywhale

Tom found this Gray Whale skull on his first COASST survey at Steamboat Creek in Washington (beginner’s luck!). After checking in with colleagues at Cascadia Research Collective (thanks Jessie!), it’s likely be an adult gray whale (originally 12m!), initially found in 1991.

ArchCapeFeb22_2014Debris1

Here’s a crab buoy found by Joanna on Oregon Mile 309, covered or “biofouled” with mussels, barnacles, sponges, and algae. Did you know? It takes free swimming barnacle larvae (cyprids, more than 6 months old) a few hours-to-two weeks to settle onto natural or man-made surfaces.  

What’s Washed In – Feb 3, 2014

Leave a reply

We’re having a great winter here at the COASST office and have enjoyed hearing about your recent surveys and interesting finds! Hope that you’re all enjoying yourselves on the beach and staying warm. If you need any supplies, just let us know.

Here’s a look at what’s washed in recently:

Japanese water bottle found by Tasha on a December survey of Spring Creek Beach in Seward, Alaska. Native goose (gooseneck) barnacles (Lepas anatifera) are attached to the cap. Adult goose barnacles release eggs, which hatch into free-swimming larvae that settle onto all types of substrate. For our state and federal fish and wildlife partners, photos of fouled items showcase the potential for marine debris to transport non-native invertebrates into the COASST range.

Caption here

Nancy and Roz found Camp Kirby’s sixth bird ever in December, a Double-crested Cormorant. Using the foot (not pictured here) we get to 4 toes: all webbed – stop – Pouchbills. On the Pouchbill family page, we’re asked to separate by bill (West Coast guide) or wing chord (Alaska guide). Wing is 33cm, bill is 59mm, which puts us squarely in cormorants – there’s only one with a stout yellow-orange bill and throat pouch – the DCCO!

Caption here

We chose Steven and Malinda’s photo from Oregon Mile 285 for a new perspective of a common species.  What part of the bird am I looking at here?! We can help with that: right wing (tagged), left wing, white body feathers. Now it’s time to try out your skills! Using the Alaska guide: dark upperwing, with trailing white secondaries (did you spot them? they’re in the center of the photo), with white underwing linings – murres that’s correct (wing chord = 20cm). Using the West Coast Wing Key: dark upperwing, white stripe on trailing edge of secondaries (subtle on worn wing) – American Coot or Common Murre (COMU has the white underwing lining). West Coast Wing Table: wing chord = 20cm, dark upperwing, with white linings – Common Murre for sure.

caption here

Had to dig through a few murres and fulmars to find this one from Sara and Peter, Ma-le’l Mid, Humboldt, California. Check out the foot, upper left. Tarsus width is greater than 12mm across – Loon. With measurements: 55mm bill, 30cm wing, 70cm tarsus, it’s too small for a Common Loon – dark back (no spotting) and straight bill lead us to Pacific Loon (LO2-LO3 in Beached Birds).

What’s Washed In – 8/26/13

Leave a reply

We just wrapped up the summer quarter here at UW and bid farewell to our awesome team of interns (An, Adrienne, Chelsea, Hilary, Matt, Monisha, Jessica, Shannon, Stephanie, and Tom). As the UW summer break begins, the COASST office will continue to be a hub of activity, especially since the fall post breeding mortality spike isn’t too far away. August has brought lots of interesting finds out on the beach. Here are a few of the many photos that have landed in our inbox recently:

HEEG

A Heermann’s Gull found by Jerry and Carol in Oregon South. Since the feet aren’t visible, let’s use the wing (sorry Alaskan’s – this one prefers south of 55°N). Our wing chord measurement is about 34cm, which puts this in the “Extra Large” category. Mantle is gray, wing tips are gray, so we have either a Glaucous-winged Gull or Heermann’s Gull – only one has a red bill with black tip – that’s the Heermanns’s. If you’re using the new wing key, select gray mantle, wing tips about the same color, no white trailing edge or windows in the outer half of the primaries.

SOSH

A Sooty Shearwater found by Linda and Dini on the South Coast, Washington. Three webbed toes and one tiny fourth toe (actually just a nail) – Tubenose! From the family page select dark, thin, long bill (and for Alaska – white underwing linings). The bill size (39mm) rules out Short-tailed Shearwater (29-35mm). COASSTers surveying this area know we’ve seen a wave of SOSH this August. Drawn to the productive waters off the Columbia River, mouth of Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay and Tillamook Bay, Sooties are “tanking up,” about to make their journey south (WAY south) to areas off Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere.

BRPE

A Brown Pelican found by Terry and Kimberly in California. It’s hard to mistake this large bird! Four webbed toes puts it in the Pouchbill family and with a bill length of 34cm(!) it could only be a Brown Pelican. The head, neck and throat are brown; the breast white, so this is a juvenile bird (hatched January-June 2013 in Southern California or Baja California-Mexico).

mono-filament line

A ball of monofilament line found by Heather in Oregon North. Fishing line is the most commonly recorded type of entanglement on COASST surveys. If you see some of this on your beach, it’s a good idea to clean it up.

What’s Washed In

Leave a reply

With all this great summer weather, we hope you are enjoying lots of time on the beach (for a survey or for fun)! Our inbox keeps filling with new and exciting COASST finds. Here are a few things that have washed ashore recently:

Greater White-fronted Gooose

A Greater White-fronted Goose found by Tom and Connie on the South Coast of Washington. This is a rare find for COASST (less than 40 documented!). You won’t find this species in the field guide. However, those three webbed front toes and bulbous forth toe will put this bird in the “Waterfowl: Tippers and Geese” category.

Pacific Loon

A Pacific Loon found by Melissa in Humboldt. Check out those wide flattened-like-a-knife tarsi: definitely a loon! Looking up the LO section in Beached Birds, we see that small loons (Pacific and Red-throated) can be separated from the Common Loon by their wing size. The Pacific Loon can be distinguished from the Red-throated Loon by its straight (as opposed to upturned bill – second photo shows this best), and limited spotting across the back.

Brandt's Cormorant

A Brandt’s Cormorant found by Olli, Carolyn, and Keith in Oregon North. The dark bill and a tan chin rule out the smaller, Pelagic Cormorant (featured in our last email) and the Double Crested Cormorant (stout orange bill or black bill with white face plumes).

Pacific Lamprey

Pacific Lamprey – part of a class of animals (Agnatha) without jaws, ribs or paired fins.

A Pacific Lamprey found by Candace, in Oregon South. A first-ever find for a COASST survey! Although this fish won’t be winning any beauty contests with its mouth full of yellowish paired (or tripled) teeth, it is pretty important conservation-wise.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Lots of yellow rope found by Heidi and team out on the North Coast of Washington! These 30cm (12in) fragments of small diameter polypropylene could have a couple of possible origins. Rope like this is often used in recreational fisheries, perhaps from a larger length encountered at the surface, wound around, then cut from a propeller. This type of rope is also used in oyster culture and cut as the crop is harvested. With rope, larger loop fragments pose and entanglement hazard (especially to seals), fragments pose an ingestion threat, based on length, to many marine species.

Seabirds from an Artist’s Perspective – Part 2

Leave a reply

Last week we heard from artist and COASST intern Rose Beede about how she views and sketches seabirds. This week, we hear from another very talented COASST intern, Chelsea Starr. We are so fortunate to have two very talented artist on the COASST team who each bring in their own unique perspective. 

As a biology enthusiast and COASST intern, and I often enjoy making study-type watercolors of different fascinating animals. Recently, I decided to paint the Brandt’s Cormorant.

Why you ask? I found the Brandt’s Cormorant (specifically the breeding birds) to be incredibly versatile visually with a very wonderful and dominant presence. Their casual posture reflects an aura of wisdom while the jet-black plumage nicely reflects their stoic and ruthless resolve for life. The Cormorant’s iridescent sapphire eyes and throat poach contrast with this serious demeanor in a whimsical way. They are dark and brilliant all at the same time. Lastly, the light whiskers on the sides of cheeks gives a much needed sense of humor to their appearance, especially when viewed from the right angle. When you add all of these observations together, you get a beautiful and visually complex seabird that can represent very powerful aspects of life that I consider very important…. Wisdom, Determination, Beauty, and Humor.

 

Brandt’s Cormorant painting by Chelsea Starr