A perplexing small cormorant from Hillman Marsh a few days ago... Visually, it seemed small enough to be outside the expected variation of DCCO... but that rather subjective...
The bill was rather pale yellow for a young DCCO (but within range), and the facial skin shape was somewhat pointed but again within DCCO range... The bill was relatively long like a DCCO as well... The lores had a contrasting yellow stripe as expected in DCCO...
For a long time, definitive hybrids have been recorded from south-central Florida ... But few confident hybrids have been recorded elsewhere (many confirmed hybrids on eBird are arguably not clear-cut identifications) ...... Perhaps that is changing?? Jax Nasimok had an exceptional candidate recently in Ajax - https://ebird.org/checklist/S376683557
While trying to look for comparable reference media - this bird from Ohio jumped out at me as a potential hybrid: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/660972796/
Of course, "candidates" have occurred previously in Ontario. I'm not keen to try to find them all on ebird right now, but this bird found by Reuven Martin came to mind as a real head scratcher: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/354755556
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| The near-centre bird with wings raised. |
My photos aren't great, which goes along with the handful of others I've seen over the years. Another candidate was the subject of a past post, as the blog was reaching it's initial death throes..... Interestingly, I uploaded that bird to eBird as a NECO/DCCO (slash, not x) - and it was rejected! I actually had to contact the local eBird reviewers multiple times to convince them of their mistake. It's hard to recognize patterns and make advancements in our knowledge when you have to try this hard to correct a potential oversight or misunderstanding...
Ontario's earliest ever record NECO was actually "rejected" multiple times this spring - even with a diagnostic photo - until a higher power swooped in to at least put the record back in limbo. But I digress! I wonder how many records of "distant small cormorants" have been accepted as NECO in Ontario?! Nope. Stop. Fall migration is just heating up. Don't get too distracted now.
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