I saw lots of loons today.
The PACIFIC LOON at Sheldrake I saw very well, initially quite close, and even
took some adequate photos (available on request) showing the thin bill, slim
head not much thicker than the neck giving a somewhat snaky appearance when
extended, smooth light gray hood extending from the crown far down the nape,
dark area extending from the lores and eye back over a restricted light patch
on the face and forming a broad dark stripe down the side of the neck between
the gray to the rear and white on the front of the neck, and narrow dark
chinstrap.
I was mostly viewing the Pacific Loon from the small gravelly park with a loop
road at the very end of County Road 139 at the actual point formed by the delta
of Sheldrake Creek. The bird was diving frequently and moving as were several
COMMON LOONS in the same area. The Pacific worked its way north past the red
channel marker, and was lost to view around the point for awhile. I refound it
by going north on Wyers Point road a very short distance to the 90 degree bend
to the left overlooking docks. After awhile the Pacific worked its way back
south, and my original viewing site was better. The Pacific Loon preened some,
and when I left at 1:30pm it was swimming away approximately northeast or
slightly left of directly across the lake in the company of a couple of Common
Loons. For those wishing to refind it, I recommend checking all vantages
within a couple of miles of there. Assuming it's the same bird we've seen in
the area for several years now, it's been seen regularly from 153 141 to the
bay north of Sheldrake Point and occasionally from the east side at Long Point
and elsewhere.
Earlier I had talked to Stuart Krasnoff a couple times. He called mid-morning
about a possible Red-throated Loon showing lots of white on the face. It was
far northwest from Stewart Park and headed north. He sent me some photos
which I looked at this evening, but they are too small/distant for me to ID.
It was late morning before I got to the lake, and I found no loons from a
couple of private docks along the west shore to which I have access. When I
got to the Ithaca Yacht Club I found my first 3 loons, fairly far to the
northeast across the lake in a bit of heat shimmer. When I first saw them
during a binocular scan their bright white breast/neck/face caught my eye and I
expected the scope to reveal gulls. I spent a long time looking at them as
they interacted. A Herring Gull that was next to them for awhile seemed
similar in overall length and with a larger head (Sibley lists both species'
length as 25). At times I could see the dark eye of a loon within the white
of the face. I did not see any blockiness or angularity to the heads, nor a
distinct forehead. The whitish face seemed to extend up through the lores.
However the crown was definitely dark and substantial, and when they faced away
no white showed at all. Although the front of the neck was bright white I
could see some irregularity in the pattern of white foreneck and dark hindneck,
especially near the base, not just a straight line dividing the two. The bills
appeared somewhat small and pointed slightly above horizontal. I could see
some white speckling on the back. After staring a long time and consulting
Sibley, I called Stuart and he correctly reported my assessment that I was
seeing 3 Red-throated Loons. When I got to the Sheldrake area and made my
first stop at the corner of County Roads 141 153, I saw scores of distant
loons, many appearing similarly bright white on the face and fairly
small-billed, some which were closer and were irrefutably COMMON LOONS, and
some in the mid-distance whose identity seemed to shift with the direction they
faced. Head-on they looked very white-faced, but from the side or the rear
they no longer looked like Red-throated Loon candidates. On my return trip I
stopped again at the Ithaca Yacht Club but this time I found about a dozen
COMMON LOONS which shared some of the characteristics I had seen on the first 3
birds. I now suspect that I may have been mistaken in my ID of Red-throated
Loons. Perhaps the heat shimmer and the dark background may have made the dark
parts of the head and the bill appear smaller, while the light parts appeared
larger. Maybe they were Red-throated, but now my doubts outweigh my
confidence. I think perhaps Red-throated Loons, which I've never seen more
than one at a time, would have appeared snakier with less distinct of a head,
and I might have had more trouble seeing the bill at all in that situation of
mediocre light, distance and moderate heat shimmer.
I got as far north as Bridgeport, the community near the northwest corner of
Cayuga Lake in the Town of Seneca Falls. From the boat ramp of Cayuga Lake
State Park I saw about a dozen COMMON GOLDENEYES and a female RED-BREASTED
MERGANSER to the east, and several mixed flocks,
