[Mich-listers] (Fwd) Puffin

[Bruce M. Bowman]

Here's an email I received about puffin (mis)identification that I 
thought worth passing on.

Unless the Bishop Lake "puffin" is refound, this will be the last post 
from me to mich-listers and se-mi-birdlist on this subject.

Bruce

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:09:25 -0500
Subject:        	Puffin
From:           	Sean Williams <seanbirder at gmail.com>
To:             	<bbowman99 at comcast.net>

Hi Bruce,

A very exciting report. I really hope somebody finds it. I¹d like to see 
what you think about my analysis. I grew birding in Massachusetts, so I 
had a fair amount of experience with puffins and puffin reports. A puffin 
is a very charismatic bird, commonly known by nonbirders. Sometimes we 
would get reports of puffins in inland ponds, or bays along the coast, 
which are unlikely areas to get puffins. By far, the #1 bird that was 
confused with a puffin is a male Bufflehead. Bufflehead are small, have a 
black and white pattern, and have similar proportions to a puffin. 
Bufflehead are the smallest diving duck (12-15²), and a puffin is about 
11-13² in length. Both species have a black back and bright white sides 
and breast. The head is proportionately large on Bufflehead, making it 
similar to a puffin. The head pattern is also superficially similar, with 
a big white patch on the head, contrasted by some black. However, the 
reports we would get of puffins in unlikely places normally would match 
perfectly- bright red bill and all. However, after following up, almost 
always there were Bufflehead present and no puffins. The reports usually 
came from beginning birders or non-birders, who normally don¹t have the 
top optics. Hearing the report yesterday of a single male Bufflehead 
being found at the lake and no puffin was big time déjà vu. In fact, when 
Cody Porter called me about it, my response was that it could have been a 
Bufflehead. We were fairly amused when the report came back.  

Bruce, this is just some food for thought, and really I¹m asking what you 
think. I don¹t want to sound like I¹m discounting the report, but it 
really does sound like a familiar story to me.  

Best,
Sean


---
Sean Williams, 1st year graduate student
Department of Zoology
Michigan State University
203 Natural Sciences Building
East Lansing, MI 48824
617-470-4094


------- End of forwarded message -------