When:

Who:

Where:

County:

Location:

Exact Site:
Pymatuning Reservoir causeway

eBird Hotspot:

Details: (To view more text, grab the lower-right corner of a field to widen or lengthen the box)

For older records, view original documentation here.

How Many:

Age/Plumage/Sex:
first year male

Habitat:
swimming and feeding on water

Distance from bird:
100 yards

Viewing Conditions:
good, but backlit

Optics Used:
Kowa Prominar TSN 884 spotting scope

Description:
Continuing bird from Sunday. Large robust diving duck with massive gray bill with some yellow or buff across the top of the bill (evidence of the bird being an immature male). Feathering coming to a point and reaching the nostril on upper mandible. Long sloping forehead. brownish overall with straight barring across upperside and some on lower flanks and upper part of breast. Areas of blackish feathers especially evident along the flanks indicating that this bird was a male. Some white on lower breast at the waterline.

Behavior:
Swimming with some diving. It eventually swam from Pennsylvania waters to Ohio waters.

Separation from similar species:
Head and bill shape and shape and extent of feathering on the bill diagnostic for Common Eider.

How positive are you about the identification:
yes

References:

During the observation:
none

After the observation:
none

Media:

Photos and Drawings

When:

Who:

Where:

County:

Location:

Exact Site:
Pymatuning Reservoir Causeway (Route 285)

eBird Hotspot:

Details: (To view more text, grab the lower-right corner of a field to widen or lengthen the box)

For older records, view original documentation here.

How Many:

Age/Plumage/Sex:
First-year male.

Habitat:
Large reservoir

Distance from bird:
~50 yards

Viewing Conditions:
Mostly cloudy

Optics Used:
Vortex Viper 10x42 binoculars and Kowa TSN-554 15-45x55 Scope

Description:
Overall dark brown bird, larger than nearby Mallards and American Black Duck. Large, light-colored bill extending down in line with sloping forehead. A broad, light line running from above the eye down towards the bill. The feathering on the sides of the bill were rounded and not pointed. The sides of the bird were mostly dark with some noticeable barring. I am terrible with written descriptions and am pretty sure that my photos will do a much better job of depicting the bird.

Behavior:
When I first found the bird that day, it was very close to the causeway but partially obscured by the limbs of a bare deciduous tree. After I notified others and birders began arriving, it slowly swam out away from the causeway, apparently to keep itself at a safer distance. Never saw it actually dive during the two hours I viewed it.

Separation from similar species:
With the eider bill, a King Eider was eliminated by the large head and bill, and barring on sides.

Discussion:
Some point-blank photos of this same bird taken by the original finders are at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S124191007

How positive are you about the identification:
Yes. And the rounded shape of the feathering on the sides of the bill and the very narrow base of the bill itself seems to point to the West Arctic "v-nigrum" subspecies.

References:

After the observation:
"The Sibley Guide to Birds" and the "National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America"

Media:

Photos and Drawings