Re: [Maine-birds] Surfbird YES

That's great news!

I heard from Trevor Persons just after Linda's note that the bird is with a few turnstones and Purple Sandpipers OFF THE TIP of East Point on the rocks. It's low tide and the birds could shift positions later today. This sounds like the original location (21 Mar) and where Rob O'Connell photo'd the bird yesterday (yes, I think that his photos show the bird--white rump and black tail; white wing stripe showing a broader area at base of the primaries, and in resting shot a bigger bird with yellow legs). The day before yesterday, the Surfbird did hang in tight to the rocks on the south side nearer to the base of the trail (and before split with trail that goes to north side). It took us a while to relocate the bird that day after it was lost by the early morning group. Even then, the bird could disappear and sit out of view for some time.

Update on status:
I've been looking through records, and this is NOT the first record for the Atlantic Coast. That goes to a bird seen 10-11 Apr 2005 on the south jetty at Ponce DeLeon Inlet, New Smyrna Beach, Volusia Co., Florida. So, dang, this is merely a REALLY good bird. There are at least 5 accepted records for Florida (3 spring, 1 winter, 1 fall) plus a spring report from 1957 that remains unverified (sight report).

Age of the bird:
I was able to photograph the bird preening the day before yesterday and could see that the upperwing coverts (median coverts to be specific) are worn and juvenal (frayed and show a thin black subterminal band). This means the bird is a first-year. It does not appear to have begun its pre-alternate molt to breeding plumage, although a few feathers on the wing might be 1st alternate. When the bird is at rest, all the gray feathering on the upperparts are its 1st basic (formative) feathers, which look identical to older birds in winter plumage. Another hint that this bird is a first-year is that by now many adult Surfbirds begin to show some black and rufous peppered feathers on the upperparts as they begin to molt.

Congratulations again to the Tin Mountain Bird Society group for the find.

Louis Bevier
Fairfield

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