Great Cormorant

On this day in 1929, Joseph Harrison "secured" an immature Great Cormorant near Salem, NJ. The specimen made its way to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and to Witmer Stone, who published a note about it in the Auk. The bird that Harrison collected was one of two that he saw.

Subsequently, Charles Urner published a note in the Auk regarding sight reports of Great Cormorants in the Barnegat Bay area. Although some cormorants in the area were strongly suspected to be Great Cormorants (or European Cormorants, as they were called at that time), it wasn't until 23 February 1931 that a Barnegat Bay cormorant was seen well enough to for the field marks for Great Cormorant to be made out. As Urner concluded his note: "Since identification of single cormorants in the field is so difficult unless the bird is in, or approaching, breeding plumage, or is seen very near at hand, this species is probably of more regular occurrence than the published records indicate (Urner 1932)."

Stone, Witmer. 1932. The European Cormorant in New Jersey. Auk 49:77. PDF here

Urner, Charles A. 1932. The European Cormorant in New Jersey. Auk 49:341-342. PDF here

Black Guillemot

On this day in 1929, C. Eliot Underdown spotted a Black Guillemot at the long jetty north of Cape May Harbor. The guillemot flew in from the northeast and landed in the water on the lee side of the jetty. Here it dove several times as Underdown viewed it from within 20 feet. The bird was in the expected mottled grayish winter plumage that makes the Black Guillemot's name an apparent misnomer at times.

Black Guillemot is the least common of the alcids that visit NJ waters in the winter. There are 12 state records to date, with most coming from Monmouth and Ocean Counties. There are three records for Cape May County, however. There is also an inland record from Boonton Reservoir in Morris County. The vast majority have been one-day wonders, but just last winter NJ birders were lucky enough to have a guillemot that lingered for over a month from early December 2005 to January of this year.

Underdown, C. Eliot. 1930. Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) at Cape May, N. J. Auk 47:242. PDF here