At 10:40 this morning, Betsy Potter, Sue Barth, and I had a PACIFIC LOON fly past us, heading west, picked out by Betsy. The bird was transitioning into basic plumage but still retained a lot of alternate plumage, most notably the small white patches on the side of the back and the very pale nape. The bird's small size and nape were strikingly different from the many Common Loons we saw flying by throughout the morning.
We had a nice variety of waterfowl fly by today including some BRANT, as well as one or two very distant jaegers chasing gulls, a BALD EAGLE, and a MERLIN that flew in off of the lake. Due to overlapping times there, we have two checklists below. Thanks to Celeste Morien for the keeping the first one. Celeste was the sacrificial birder today, unfortunately. The Pacific Loon flew by 30 minutes after she left. Golden Hill SP, Niagara, US-NY Oct 18, 2013 8:10 AM - 10:09 AM Protocol: Stationary Comments: With Betsy Potter, Celeste Morien (list-keeper), and Sue Barth. Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.7.1 19 species (+4 other taxa) Brant 57 Canada Goose 8 Northern Pintail 2 Greater Scaup 12 Greater/Lesser Scaup 6 White-winged Scoter 36 Black Scoter 7 Surf/Black Scoter 6 Long-tailed Duck 13 Common Merganser 3 Red-breasted Merganser 93 duck sp. 8 Common Loon 89 Horned Grebe 10 Red-necked Grebe 1 Double-crested Cormorant 35 Bald Eagle 1 jaeger sp. 2 Distant Parasitic or Pomarine too far to ID with confidence. First was chasing a gull for a while. Second made a shorter chase. Could possibly have been the same individual but the sightings were probably 45 minutes or more apart. Identified by the blackish plumage, more pointed wings, shearwatering flight, and behavior of chasing gulls. Others noted seeing white in primaries and white on belly of at least the first one. Bonaparte's Gull 1 Ring-billed Gull 57 Herring Gull 18 Blue Jay 1 Tree Swallow 4 Golden Hill SP, Niagara, US-NY Oct 18, 2013 10:12 AM - 11:51 AM Protocol: Stationary Comments: With Betsy Potter and Sue Barth. Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.4.2 17 species (+2 other taxa) Canada Goose 93 Gadwall 8 Came by in one group. American Wigeon 6 American Black Duck 2 Mallard 3 Northern Pintail 18 Redhead 3 Came by in one group. First of migration for us. Greater Scaup 1 White-winged Scoter 20 Red-breasted Merganser 12 duck sp. 11 Pacific Loon 1 Very rare but amazingly, the second year in a row I have seen one fly by on Lake Ontario. It was quite close (probably under 300 yards), one of the closer birds we saw flying by this day. Betsy picked it out but was confused by it and did not know what it was (she did not see the one I saw last year). When it was straight out, I got on it and was struck by the contrastingly pale nape. I looked for white wing patches, as Betsy wondered aloud if it could be a grebe, but there were none. After noting that, I knew what it was and called out, "It's a Pacific Loon!" We continued to watch it until it flew out of sight to the west of us. Total viewing time may have been about 40 seconds. Noticeably smaller than the many Common Loons seen this day, with a smaller bill and smaller feet projecting behind the tail. The bird was transitioning from alternate to basic plumage. It had a strikingly pale nape bordered by a dark forehead and some dark below but there was also some white on the underside of the neck (so not completely in alternate plumage). I tried to note the pattern on the back, which was difficult at first as the bird seemed to fly with its belly angled toward us, but after it was past us a ways, I could easily make out a small white patch on the right side of its back (one of the "braces"). The other white "brace" was not visible to me. The remainder of the upperparts were blackish and the belly was white. This description may not rule out an Arctic Loon but the bird appeared quite small to me which may be better for Pacific. In addition, of course, Arctic is a much greater rarity. Common Loon 23 Double-crested Cormorant 9 Bonaparte's Gull 5 Ring-billed Gull 59 Herring Gull 6 gull sp. 360 Most of these were on the water to the east of us, either Ring-billed or Herring, probably the former. Merlin 1 Flew in off of the lake. Good birding! Willie ------------------ Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY dannapotterATroadrunner.com http://www.betsypottersart.com <http://www.betsypottersart.com/> 2013 Big Year: http://www.betsypottersart.com/willie-s-photos/2013-big-year/ Big Year List: http://www.happtech.com/BigYearDanna/CurrentList/ShowCurrentListTable.aspx Odenates: http://www.betsypottersart.com/willie-s-photos/dragonflies -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
