No it's Not a Murre, it's a Penguin

Abstract

On 21 August 2011, a Humboldt Penguin (Spheniscus humboldti; Fig. 1) was observed on Willoughby Rock, Washington (476 24.609 N, 1246 21.169 W) during a Steller Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus) survey. Other species of birds on Willoughby Rock include Common Murre (Uria aalge), Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), Heermann’s Gull (Larus heermanni), and Brandt’s Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus). The penguin was sitting above the high tide line in close proximity to Brandt’s Cormorants and Heermann’s Gulls. The penguin was photographed with 2 Nikon D70 cameras, each with 70–300 mm lenses and examined with 7 3 50 binoculars. No bands or other markings were observed on the penguin. The normal home range of Humboldt Penguins is restricted to the coast and offshore islands of Peru and Chile affected by the Peruvian Current (Hays 1986), roughly from 426 S to 56 S (Williams 1995). Extralimital sightings in North America have been reported in the past, although very rarely. Van Buren and Boersma (2007) summarized the reported sightings of Humboldt Penguins off the west coast of North America as: 1944 at Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia; 1975 near Long Beach, Washington; 1978 on Vancouver Island, British Columbia; 1985 off the Washington coast; and 2002 off Noyes Island, Alaska (Fig. 2). In May and June 1984, an additional single adult Humboldt Penguin was recorded at Willoughby Rock during weekly shore based seabird and marine mammal counts of the area (Speich and others 1987), which was not included in the Van Buren and Boersma (2007) summary. Van Buren and Boersma (2007) presented compelling arguments to suggest the observations of Humboldt