[EBB Sightings] Scaups oiled or not: Feedback and revised criteria

All;
 
Here is a revision of the proposed criteria for identifying oiled scaups.
Steve Hampton, 
Glen Tempke, and Tony Brake provided feedback on the critera. 

Steve Hampton provided a description of what oiled birds look like and what
behaviors they exhibit. His description is included in its entirety. 

Glen Tempke recommends we also look for triangular scale-like oiled patches
and has provided excellent pictures illustrating what this looks like. 
 
Tony Brake, who has spent many hours in Cordelia helping decontaminate oiled
birds, provided valuable background. At Cordelia, Tony saw that it only
takes a small amount of oil on the plumage to ruin a bird's ability to keep
warm. Steve Hampton reiterates this in his description. Tony also saw that
oiled plumage is frequently located below the waterline and is difficult to
see.
 
Here are the revised criteria for scaups. Comments welcome. 
 
1. The bird is out of the water, regardless of plumage appearance. I do not
log scaups dabbling in a few inches of water near rocks, mudflats, or
untrafficked beaches if they are actively feeding, have normal looking
plumage, and otherwise appear healthy. 

2. The bird is obviously waterlogged or ill, regardless of plumage
appearance. Frequently, the bird appears unkempt and has some feathers
askew. 

3. The bird has feathers stuck together to form triangular, scale-like
patches, such as on the breast of this bird:
http://www.pbase.com/gtepke/image/88875414. Here is a more extreme case
(surf scoter): http://www.pbase.com/gtepke/image/88875411.

4. A male has dark black (not gray) patches on the flanks. For example, see
the flank of the scaup in the picture above. An uncommon plumage variation
in males can look like this. I believe we should log these birds because
some of the time it will be oil. On females, irregular black patches should
be oil in all cases. 

5. A preening bird rolls on its side, and the belly shows brown patches or
coloring (males), black patches, or black streaks. 

6. The bird exhibits unusual appearance or behaviors as described below by
Steve Hampton:

In general, oiled birds will have a "wet dog" look with feathers wetted and
clumped together.  Sometimes it's hard to see black oil (in the case of
dark-plumaged birds like cormorants, etc.) or, if it's diesel or a light
gasoline, the oil will be nearly clear in color, and thus hard to see even
on a white bird.  Nevertheless, the bird will not have plumage that is
pristine and dry or fluffy.  Feathers will be out of place and appear wet
and matted.  Sometimes black oil will also leave a brownish-yellow wash on
white feathers.  

The other key thing to look for is unusual behavior that is associated with
hypothermia and starvation.  Even a spot of oil the size of a dime or a
pencil line across the breath can destroy the bird's ability to keep warm in
cold water.  Like a hole in a wetsuit, the water can penetrate and then
spread against the skin, chilling the entire bird.  If the bird is dependent
upon diving for food (e.g. diving ducks, grebes, loons, alcids), they will
cease feeding and quickly succumb.  Due to their metabolism, they can lose
up to 1/3 of the body weight in two days if they are not feeding (see Oka,
N. and M. Okuyama. 2000. Nutritional status of dead oiled rhinoceros auklets
(Cerorhinca monocerata) in the Southern Japan Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin
40(4): 340-347. ) Such birds will stand out to the observer, usually because
they are either constantly preening, swimming listlessly near shore with
minimal avoidance reaction to humans, or (most obviously) are onshore.  For
example, any grebe or loon seen on shore in the Bay Area is almost certainly
oiled.  On some of these birds, you might be hard pressed to see the oil.
For example, I saw an obviously hypothermic (visibly shivering) LESC perched
on the rip-rap all alone, but the plumage looked flawless, dry, etc.  Upon
further investigation, I realized the vent was oiled, but this was hard to
see at first.  Often, only the vent is oiled.  

Note that species that can forage out of water (e.g. gulls) can survive
oiling much longer.