Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 09:52:04 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Kathy Klimkiewicz Subject: Re: Loons at Clopper Lake MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sorry to the list if I missed this but could someone provide directions to Clopper Lake either on the list or privately. I might be able to get over on Sunday after my BBS route. Thanks! Cheers, Kathy Laurel MD Rick Sussman To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Sent by: Maryland cc: Birds & Birding Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Loons at Clopper Lake 05/31/02 08:03 AM Please respond to Maryland Birds & Birding All, I went out to Clopper Lake this afternoon (Thursday, May 30) to see if the loons were still present. Parking at the Kingfisher overlook lot, I ran into Hans Holbrook as he was leaving (about 4:15, I think). He said he had great looks at all 3 birds from the far side of the lake, so that's where I headed. I crossed the bridge and took a left onto the Lake Shore/MinkHollow Trail (blue and white slashes painted on the trees). The two 1st summer birds were actively feeding not far from shore a little ways down the trail, as viewed from very near the edge of the lake. The adult Common Loon was further out in the water and also further down the lake, and was not involved with any interaction with the other two while I watched. The two 1st summer birds were actively peering into the water, with heads under the surface, and actively diving for food for the 45 minutes I watched. On a few occasions the Pacific would get chased away by the larger Common, which seemed to be defending a feeding territory. The Pacific let out a low sort of "growling" noise at least twice as it flew/swam away from the Common Loon. As Bob Mumford noted, the bill of the Pacific did to me, also, seem a bit downcurved (and much slimmer and narrower than the dagger-like bill of the Common), and the feathers on the nape/neck were what appeared to pin feathers just coming in, and gave the bird a rather "combed" look on the neck. This may have been accentuated by the fact that it was diving and these feathers were wet. It didn't appear to have any hint of a chin strap, at least not in my view through my scope (40x at about 35-50 feet). The back of the smaller Pacific is much darker than the mottled gray color of the 1st summer Common Loon. Folks should make an effort to see these birds before they leave (though I'd love to see them stay). Pacific Loon is not listed at all on the Montgomery County checklist, and it may be a first county record. Rick Sussman Ashton,MD warblerick@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================