[va-bird] Pacific Loon, Kerr Reservoir

  • From: Susan Heath <sheath@xxxxxxx>
  • To: VA Birds <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2006 18:46:37 -0500

All,

Fenton Day, Brenda Tekin, myself, and another birder whose name I didn't get saw a Pacific Loon at Kerr Reservoir (Palmer's Point) today around 12:30. Fenton and I first arrived around 8:45 to find Brenda scoping through the loons with a candidate loon but we were unable to positively id it because of bad light and strong wind conditions. Fenton and I walked around the shoreline for a while but we were still unable to get a good view. When we returned to the point, Brenda had found a Red-throated Loon which we all were finally able to get on despite the wind and the constant diving of the loons. The wind was so strong as to almost blow our scopes over. Fenton and I gave up and decided to check some other areas. We had reached Dick Cross WMA when Brenda called and said that she had the Pacific Loon so we zipped back over only to find that the wind was even stronger than before! We all got on a loon that we decided was a Red-throated but not the same one as we had seen before but we were unable to find the Pacific. Brenda and I found refuge from the wind in our cars to look through some field guides but Fenton stuck it out. When I saw him trotting back to the car but his scope still out on the point (sheltered by a tree!) I figured something was up. Sure enough he had found the Pacific Loon almost straight out from the point but all the way on the other side. By extending our scope legs only part way and getting down on our knees we were able to get our scopes stable enough in the wind to view the bird and see the small rounded head, small bill, and much smaller size compared to the block-headed common loons that were ubiquitous. At one point we had the pacific, several commons and a red-throated loon in one scope view. I would have liked for it to have been much closer but I'll take it! Thanks to Adam D'Onofrio for finding this bird (over and over!) and to Brenda for calling us back when we had given up.

Sue

--
Susan A. Heath
George Mason University
Environmental Science Department
Fairfax, VA

Secretary, Virginia Avian Records Committee
Keeper, Virginia Comp List at www.virginiabirding.org

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