THREE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS ON DOCK, CUTLER HARBOR,CUTLER,MAINE, 8/12/2019

NONBREEDING COMMON LOON, CUTLER HARBOR,CUTLER,MAINE, 8/12/2019

BREEDING BLACK GUILLEMOT, CUTLER HARBOR,CUTLER,MAINE, 8/12/2019

   We can ID this Alcid as a Black Guillemot as follows:

• Black plumage with a large white patch on the wings
• Long and slender black bill

   The Black Guillemot is resident in much its range, but large populations from the high Arctic migrate southwards in winter.  Unlike other Alcids, the Black Guillemot prefers to forage in relatively shallow near-shore waters.
   The Black Guillemot is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 914.

GREAT SHEARWATER IN FLIGHT, MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND,GULF OF MAINE,US/CANADA, 8/12/2019

   Even though we have a mostly rear view of this bird, we can ID it as a Great Shearwater as follows:

• The front part of the bill that we can see is black
• Gray-brown upperparts that we can see
• The pattern we can make out of underside of the right wing is that of a Great Shearwater
• Whitish belly with dark belly patch
• Black, blunt tail with white band
• Both our birding guide and Merlin photo ID identified this bird as a Great Shearwater (Merlin narrowed the ID down to two Shearwaters; we were able to eliminate the other Shearwater).

   The Great Shearwater is one of the few bird species to migrate from breeding grounds in the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere, the normal pattern being the other way around.
   The Great Shearwater is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 913.

ARCTIC TERN, MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND,GULF OF MAINE,US/CANADA, 8/12/2019

   Even though we can't see the head or face of this tern, we can still ID it as an Arctic Tern as follows:

• Very long, pointed gray wings
• Long, forked tail.   If you look closely you can see the fork.
• We visually saw that this was a tern, but couldn't get a fast enough photo to get the face and head of the bird.
• Gray belly
• Both our birding guide and Merlin bird photo ID identified this bird as an Arctic Tern (Merlin narrowed the ID to two species of terns; we were able to eliminate the other species).

   The Arctic Tern is strongly migratory.  It migrates along a convoluted route from its northern breeding grounds to the Antarctic coast for the southern summer and back again about six months later.. Recent studies have shown that the annual round trip length for birds nesting in the Netherlands is about 56,000 miles and for birds nesting in Iceland and Greenland is about 44,100 miles.  These

are by far the longest migrations known in the animal kingdom.

   The Arctic Tern is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 912.

GREAT BLACK-BACKED & HERRING GULLS ON ROCKS, MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND,GULF OF MAINE,US/CANADA, 8/12/2019

COMMON RAVEN IN FLIGHT, MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND,GULF OF MAINE,US/CANADA, 8/12/2019

   According to our two birding guides, the presence of a Common Raven at Machias Seal Island is very unusual; in fact they have never sighted one there.  The gull on the water in the foreground in the 3 to 5th photos is the 2nd winter Great Black-backed Gull shown in the previous post. The birds on the water in the background of photos 3 to 6 are Atlantic Puffins.