[va-richmond-general] unidentified bird

To Richmond Audubon listserve:

This is my first post to the listserver, and I'm somewhat technologically 
challenged, so please have patience with me if I've done this incorrectly.

My husband and I were walking down the beach in Salvo, NC last week, 
when we saw a bird at the edge of the surf who appeared to be injured.  
He was a large white bird with black along the trailing edge of his wings.  
He had a very long yellow beak, and a thick neck.  He seemed unable to 
walk - he moved himself forward by pulling himself with his wings - and 
he would spread his wings occasionally (kind of the way a cormorant 
does)  but not fly.  Once in the surf, he seemed to handle himself quite 
well, but he seemed pretty helpless on the beach and I was afraid an 
unleashed dog (or feral cat) might get him.  I kept an eye on him, at a 
distance, and sent my husband back to the cottage for my cell phone & 
to try to find a phone number for a local wildlife rehabilitator (if one 
existed down there).  The only number my husband could find was a 
number to call to report turtle strandings, the Dare County Central 
Dispatch, so I called that number in hopes that they could give me the 
number of someone who may be able to tell us what to do for the bird.  
When I described the bird, the Dare Co. Dispatch person said that it was 
a loon, and it was not injured, that loons are helpless on land and don't 
fly very well either, and often they just "flop around on the beach" waiting 
for the tide to come in.  The bird seemed fine once he was in the water, 
and it certainly had the shape of a loon, so we thought it was perhaps 
some type of loon we'd never seen before (my husband and I are novice 
birders).  However, since returning home I've consulted and number of 
bird books and even looked on the internet, and I have yet to find a white 
loon with black along the back edge of its wings and a yellow bill.  Does 
anyone have any idea what this bird might be, or are there different 
plumages of loons that are not mentioned in the bird books?  Any ideas 
would be appreciated.  Thanks!

- Rebecca Randolph    
Rebecca B. Randolph, University of Richmond School of Law

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