FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Bonaparte meets his Waterloo(n)

[Dnldhlt@xxxxxxx]

     I birded in the vicinity of South Holston Lake today, Thursday, Oct. 31. 
 Some of the things I found interesting included a couple of late Tree 
Swallows below Osceola Island, two male and one female Hooded Merganser above 
Osceola Island, and along a nearby road a Brown Creeper in a mixed feeding 
flock.  The Ring-billed Gulls and Herring Gulls above Osceola Island were 
easy to compare and contrast as they stood preening together.  Musick's 
Campground yielded half a dozen Ruddy Ducks.
     I also observed an American Kestrel leave his perch and land in a field, 
pick up something with his bill, and fly back to his perch.  He then held the 
catch in his foot and ate it in two or three bites.  It seemed to be about 
the size and shape of a grasshopper.
     The most remarkable thing I saw today, though, was at Musick's 
Campground at 4 pm.  A lone adult Bonaparte's Gull was hunting in tandem with 
a Common Loon.  The gull would swim just a few feet from the loon.  When the 
loon would dive, the gull flew up, circling and hovering, then usually landed 
just a split second before the loon surfaced beside it.  Often, the gull 
would hover-glean from the surface while the loon was underwater, sometimes 
right at the spot, and just before, the loon surfaced.  I watched this for 
probably 15 or 20 minutes.  A couple of times, the gull rested on the surface 
while the loon was underwater, but when the loon resurfaced the gull flew 
over and landed beside it.
     In the background during all this I had vaguely noticed a Pied-billed 
Grebe diving.  At one point, after the loon had been underwater for a moment, 
my attention was diverted from the gull by a lot of splashing.  I looked in 
time to see the loon surface, near where the grebe had been, in a most 
peculiar manner; with his wings outstretched and the upper surface of his 
wings and back parallel the waters surface, causing the water to mound up and 
spill off his back.  It made quite a dramatic entrance!  At the same time the 
Pied-billed Grebe was getting the heck out of Dodge, which I believe was the 
splashing that first drew my attention.  As the grebe beat his hasty retreat, 
the loon reared back, lifting his front out of the water and exposing his 
belly and outstretched underwings toward the poor grebe, who didn't stop 
until he disappeared somewhere across the Virginia state line.  After 
watching the grebe's departure, I couldn't relocate the gull or loon.  A 
small fishing boat had approached the area.  But a few minutes later as I 
started to leave, one first-winter and three adult Bonaparte's Gulls showed 
up with the one loon, all tandem hunting as described.  Later another adult 
joined the group for a total of five gulls.  They were still at it around 
4:40 pm when I left to look for the Ross's Goose at Middlebrook Lake.  (I 
finally found the lake, but not the goose.)

Don Holt
910 Smalling Rd.
Johnson City, TN 37601
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