At approx. 3:50 p.m. today, I was stationed outside in my yard to see if there was going to be a raptor "down flight" at the end of the day. A small loon approached from the northeast, then it flew due west towards me, circled slightly to the northwest and then headed due south and out of sight. I watched it, with unobstructed views, for about 75 seconds with binoculars and briefly through my scope. The distance was estimated to be about 110 meters horizontally at the closest point and 100 meters vertically.
It was a basic plumaged adult Pacific Loon, based on the sharpness of the necklace, the immaculate white face and breast and dark back and crown. The smaller size, shorter heavy-necked appearance, the shorter legs (indicated by how far they extended beyond the tail), dark back, well delineated border between the nape and the front of the neck, slower wing beat and posture (it held its head horizontal throughout the observation period) variously ruled out both Common and Red-throated Loons. Earlier in the day I saw 2 Red-throated Loons and 8 Commons although they were all much further away and were flying much higher. Other birds of interest today were 2 Merlins, 10 Red-tails, 1 Northern Harrier, 2 Cooper's Hawk, and 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks. Bluebirds, meadowlarks and hundreds of blackbirds were on the move this morning as well. Nearest intersection - Lakeridge at Reach., Scugog Twp. Geoff Carpentier www.avocetnatureservices.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
