Is anyone familiar with the birds that forage on the north end of San Pablo Bay, just south of Mare Island and west of the Martinez/I80 bridge? They're out in large numbers and appear to be ducks. They emit a whistling/whirring sound when taking off enmass, as well as the stacatto sound of their wings hitting the water. They have black heads and bodies with white necks and upper shoulders.
I've searched various online sites, and all of the identification guides haven't helped. I've looked at pictures of pretty much every species of diving duck (Mergansers, Buffleheads, Scaups, Greater and Smaller for each, etc.) to no avail.
These birds appeared to have solid black bodies and solid white necks. There were LOTS of them last Wednesday evening. They didn't vocalize much. At first I thought they were vocalizing the whirring sound but decided it was their wings.
Just curious,
"Mad" Miles
:burngrnbounce:
enigmaha
11-03-2007, 09:23 PM
Hi Mad Miles,
They could be Black Scoters. The female and first winter Black Scoters bear a likeness to what you described. The Scoters are sea ducks and they migrate in large flocks to winter around here. Another possibility would be the Common Murre in winter plumage though they're more commonly seen around our outer coast. Hope this helps.
Enigmaha
Barrie
11-03-2007, 09:50 PM
look up Northern Pintail. Just a wild guess. Barrie
"Mad" Miles
11-04-2007, 11:57 AM
look up Northern Pintail. Just a wild guess. Barrie
Barrie,
Thanks for the guess. But nope. These were black with white necks. And they were diving in not very shallow water. Northern Pintail do not meet that criteria.
When I was searching to ID them I checked out pretty much every Diving Duck the websites listed. None seemed to match. That's why I asked here.
We've got our resident entemologist, Willie LL. Are there any ornithologists on this board?
Anybody?
"M"M
:burngrnbounce:
"Mad" Miles
11-04-2007, 12:47 PM
Dear Bird Watchers,
Based on an exparte exchange with, an unamed by me here, but helpful and apparently knowledgable person, it appears that the most likely ID for my mystery flock sighting is, Western Grebe.
The colors and shape are correct. The call is not but I may not have caught their vocalizations over the sound of the diesel engine we were motoring with (no wind that day).
S'Cool!
"M"M
:burngrnbounce:
Willie Lumplump
11-05-2007, 02:42 PM
Is anyone familiar with the birds that forage on the north end of San Pablo Bay, just south of Mare Island and west of the Martinez/I80 bridge? They're out in large numbers and appear to be ducks. They emit a whistling/whirring sound when taking off enmass, as well as the stacatto sound of their wings hitting the water. They have black heads and bodies with white necks and upper shoulders.
I've searched various online sites, and all of the identification guides haven't helped. I've looked at pictures of pretty much every species of diving duck (Mergansers, Buffleheads, Scaups, Greater and Smaller for each, etc.) to no avail.
These birds appeared to have solid black bodies and solid white necks. There were LOTS of them last Wednesday evening. They didn't vocalize much. At first I thought they were vocalizing the whirring sound but decided it was their wings.
Just curious,
"Mad" Miles
:burngrnbounce:
If you're viewing these from any considerable distance, the position of the sun in the sky can make a difference in what you can see. Backlighting can greatly reduce the amount of visible detail and give a false impression of color patterns. I've seen really large numbers of black scoters (enigmaha's suggestion) in the North Bay Area, and I think it likely that these are what you're seeing. I've never seen western grebes in large numbers, and I'm not sure that they flock together as most ducks do. I can't imagine what other birds would even remotely resemble your description.
"Mad" Miles
11-05-2007, 06:22 PM
My Esteemed Scientist WLL,
Scoters are the wrong shape, the light was behind me (4:30 - 5 p.m. facing east) and the birds were no more than twenty feet away at times. Western Grebes have the correct coloration and shape. I'm still not certain about their beaks. I don't recall it being as long and spear sharp as the Grebe pictures I've scoped. But the odd-shaped Scoter beak was definitely not in attendance.
The boat owner and pilot insists they are Coots, which he refers to as Mudhens. I checked that possibility out from the getgo. Wrong shape, coloration and body size.
Too bad I don't pack a camera. Then this discussion would be moot. But perhaps not as satisfying....?
The things we debate on this board. I've been thinking of this riff; Old threads on waccobb never die, they just lay dormant until revived by the tenaciously obsessed!
Cheers,
"Mad" Miles
:burngrnbounce:
Willie Lumplump
11-05-2007, 06:30 PM
My Esteemed Scientist WLL,
Scoters are the wrong shape, the light was behind me (4:30 - 5 p.m. facing east) and the birds were no more than twenty feet away at times. Western Grebes have the correct coloration and shape. I'm still not certain about their beaks. I don't recall it being as long and spear sharp as the Grebe pictures I've scoped. But the odd-shaped Scoter beak was definitely not in attendance.
The boat owner and pilot insists they are Coots, which he refers to as Mudhens. I checked that possibility out from the getgo. Wrong shape, coloration and body size.
Too bad I don't pack a camera. Then this discussion would be moot. But perhaps not as satisfying....?
The things we debate on this board. I've been thinking of this riff; Old threads on waccobb never die, they just lay dormant until revived by the tenaciously obsessed!
Cheers,
"Mad" Miles
:burngrnbounce:
Well, if I'm ever to have a moment's peace, you're going to have to go back to where you saw these birds and take some photos.