Did this species of bird, a Japanese murrelet, spend a day or two at Point Reyes National Seashore, or was it the somewhat more common Ancient Murrelet?/Japaense murrelet photographed in Japan by Alastair Rae, London, United KingdomIf I were to mention a controversy at Drakes Bay in Point Reyes National Seashore in California, undoubtedly the two words that would pop into your head are 'oyster company' rather than 'Japanese Murrelet,' but the latter is what birders have been talking about since Thanksgiving week.
On November 24th, one of North America's consummate birders, Steve N.G. Howell, reported seeing a strange-looking Murrelet from the fish docks on Drakes Bay. He hadn't actually 'seen' the bird so much as noticed it in his photos of Ancient Murrelets, which are the much more common bird this time of year at Point Reyes. He thought it possible that the bird could be the first North American sighting of a Japanese Murrelet.
Howell's photos were not clear enough for him to consider them diagnostic, but word of the bird spread as fast as the metaphorical (but all too real in California) wildfire. He and other skilled birders caught a glimpse of the murrelet on the following day, but it abruptly vanished.
By the day before Thanksgiving, the unknown bird had been promoted from a possible Japanese Murrelet to an 'apparent' Japanese Murrelet to an almost-official Japanese Murrelet by the birding rumor mill. The problem was that no one had gotten a good enough look or good enough photo to confirm anything. Steve Howell had not published the original photos, feeling they weren't clear enough to tell anything.
When it was apparent that birders were going all-in for this bird on Wednesday morning, with some driving to Point Reyes from San Diego, the photos were published. The markings that had led Howell and the others to believe it could be a Japanese Murrelet included bold white 'eyebrows' that wrapped around to meet in the back of the head. Ancient Murrelets have the eyebrows when in breeding plumage, but they are far less distinct than the white-topped head of the Japanese birds that is split only by black crest feathers resting on top, and Ancient's eyebrows don't wrap around.
Unfortunately there was a visible Ancient Murrelet in the bay on Wednesday that was in breeding plumage, which is very unusual in December. It also had bold white eyebrows that met in the back of the head. In other words, there was likely never a Japanese Murrelet in Drakes Bay, but only a weird Ancient Murrelet with confused hormones.
There are several lessons here. Most prominent is that excitement over a rare bird can lead to cautious reports ballooning into near-certain reports. It's also an illustration of how little we know about some of these birds, since the appearance of the Ancient Murrelet caught everyone a little off guard. And finally, it's a reminder that Drakes Bay is about more than just oysters and federal lawsuits. Sometimes it's about nearly a hundred disappointed birders standing on a dock.
Better luck next time to everyone. Sometimes you get the bird, and sometimes you just get an unplanned trip to Point Reyes.
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