Barry et al.: I have seen young flightless cormorants with this colouration on a couple of occasions on breeding colonies on the Great Lakes. I believe both times it was on Little Galloo Island in SE Lake Ontario. I don't recall that I have ever seen it in an adult bird. It is unusual but not unheard of.
Cheers, Chip Weseloh CWS -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Barry Kent MacKay Sent: September 27, 2004 6:58 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Ontbirds]"Partial Albino" Cormorant There is an extremely pale Double-crested Cormorant at Whitby Harbour, which Carol Edwards and I found last Saturday afternoon. Carol got some excellent digital photos of the bird, who was perched quite close to the foot of the jetty at the base of the channel. This is at the foot of Brock Street, Whitby, south of the baseline road, where Brock Street curves to the southeast and becomes Water Street. There is a cluster of rocks nearby in the channel (to the right as you stand facing the lake...or if you find the road sign that has both Brock Street and Water Street on it, just face west and you'll see the rocks, just offshore past the point), that are covered with guano. And on them was a small flock of Double-crested Cormorants, some Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls and one Great Black-backed Gull. The bird in question has an entirely yellow beak and pouch...not orange. The feet are not black...more of a mauve-grey colour. The face, neck and breast are clean, pure white. The top of the head down the back of the neck is a light sort of greyish-brownish colour. The back and wings are pale brownish, lightest toward the front, darker toward the rear, but nowhere the same colour as the normal birds. The flanks are pale sandy brown and the pattern seems to curve under the belly, as well. Tail and primaries and scondaries are pale, sandy brown. Brock Street is the main north-south street through Whitby, and its south end is south of Bayly (baseline) road, which runs east and west, parallel to Highway 401, south of Whitby. This is Brock Street, just east of Cranberry Marsh, not Brock Road. Barry Kent MacKay Markham, Ontario, Canada _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] To join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://mailman.hwcn.org/mailman/listinfo/ontbirds ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Sep 27 09:15:57 2004 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts25.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.188]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D48D048547 for <[email protected]>; Mon, 27 Sep 2004 09:15:56 -0400 (EDT) Received: from barrymackay ([64.229.169.252]) by tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.06.10 201-253-122-130-110-20040306) with ESMTP id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Mon, 27 Sep 2004 09:20:15 -0400 From: "Barry Kent MacKay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Weseloh,Chip [Ontario]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [Ontbirds]"Partial Albino" Cormorant Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 09:20:05 -0400 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.4510 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 13:15:57 -0000 I actually think this is an immature bird, but, of course, fully grown. I think any species can produce "pigementally-challenged" individuals. Cheers, B. > -----Original Message----- > From: Weseloh,Chip [Ontario] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: September 27, 2004 8:30 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] > Subject: RE: [Ontbirds]"Partial Albino" Cormorant > > Barry et al.: > > I have seen young flightless cormorants with this colouration on a > couple of occasions on breeding colonies on the Great Lakes. I believe > both times it was on Little Galloo Island in SE Lake Ontario. I don't > recall that I have ever seen it in an adult bird. It is unusual but not > unheard of. > > Cheers, > > Chip Weseloh > CWS > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Barry Kent MacKay > Sent: September 27, 2004 6:58 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Ontbirds]"Partial Albino" Cormorant > > > > There is an extremely pale Double-crested Cormorant at Whitby Harbour, > which Carol Edwards and I found last Saturday afternoon. Carol got some > excellent digital photos of the bird, who was perched quite close to the > foot of the jetty at the base of the channel. > > This is at the foot of Brock Street, Whitby, south of the baseline road, > where Brock Street curves to the southeast and becomes Water Street. > There is a cluster of rocks nearby in the channel (to the right as you > stand facing the lake...or if you find the road sign that has both Brock > Street and Water Street on it, just face west and you'll see the rocks, > just offshore past the point), that are covered with guano. And on them > was a small flock of Double-crested Cormorants, some Herring Gulls, > Ring-billed Gulls and one Great Black-backed Gull. > > The bird in question has an entirely yellow beak and pouch...not orange. > The feet are not black...more of a mauve-grey colour. The face, neck > and breast are clean, pure white. The top of the head down the back of > the neck is a light sort of greyish-brownish colour. The back and wings > are pale brownish, lightest toward the front, darker toward the rear, > but nowhere the same colour as the normal birds. The flanks are pale > sandy brown and the pattern seems to curve under the belly, as well. > Tail and primaries and scondaries are pale, sandy brown. > > Brock Street is the main north-south street through Whitby, and its > south end is south of Bayly (baseline) road, which runs east and west, > parallel to Highway 401, south of Whitby. This is Brock Street, just > east of Cranberry Marsh, not Brock Road. > > Barry Kent MacKay > Markham, Ontario, Canada > > > _______________________________________________ > ONTBIRDS mailing list > [email protected] > To join or leave ONTBIRDS visit > http://mailman.hwcn.org/mailman/listinfo/ontbirds > ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm
