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Thick-billed Murre @ Fort Macon SP



This is a follow-up to Sandy's email earlier this morning about the Thick-Billed Murre. I visited Fort Macon (1:45pm, Tuesday), and discovered that the Thick-Billed Murre is still foraging near the rock jetty. I have a couple of poor-quality digital images of the bird if anyone is interested (the bird got within 50 ft of me at one point). Also saw another Razorbill and some Red-throated Loons.
Nate Bacheler
Morehead City, NC


Sandy Cash wrote:

Hi all,

I am on the phone with Josh Rose as I type this, and he reports a THICK-BILLED MURRE from Fort Macon State Park. The bird was found by professor Stuart Pimm of Duke at about 9:00 AM today (3/11/2003). The bird is extremely tame, remaining about 20 feet offshore and diving frequently in front of the observors. It is in a patch of shallow water protected by the rocky jetty at the park, in the broad area where a raft of about 20 RAZORBILLS were reported yesterday. (Razorbills still being reported from the same location.)

The bird appears to be molting into breeding/alternate plumage - while it appears all-black from a distance, closer observation reveals scruffy plumage details around the neck and head. The bird is very blackish overall (not brownish like Common Murre), and it has a noticeably thicker bill as well. The white stripe on the upper mandible is clearly visible.

I myself do not have further details, but the ID seems quite solid - I'm assuming Josh will post a followup when he returns to Durham.

-Sandy
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Sandy Cash
Durham, NC
scash@mindspring.com