Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 01:40:02 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Matt Hafner Subject: Pacific Loon, QA county MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit This evening 11/10/02, Zach Baer and I had a loon from the Cabin Creek Road boat launch that we are nearly certain was a Pacific. Unfortunately, in the afternoon the light is not spectacular from this location. When I first spotted the loon, my first impression was Pacific. It was difficult to judge distance, perhaps quarter-mile (not as far as most birds I look at on the Susquehanna). I would appreciate if someone could check this area in the morning hours when the light would be much better. The bird sat low in the water, at times only its neck visible. The neck/head was thin, smooth, and rounded. The bill was the biggest give-away for me. It was very small and pointed, often difficult to see. When the sun was behind clouds, I could see the well-defined, straight line separted the dark head and nape from the throat. After about 25 minutes of viewing, a Common Loon came into view at the same distance. The Common gave much more of a block-headed appearance with a hulking bill. Also, when the sun was blocked, I was able to the see the contrast between the throat and nape was not clearly defined and that it was jagged rather than a straight demarcation. It is hard for me to accurately portray the structure of this bird through email. I made a sketch in the field that I feel clearly depicts what I was seeing in the scope. Specific directions: Follow the signs to Horsehead Wetlands Center from Rt. 18. Drive past the entrance to Horsehead and take the next right onto Cabin Creek Road. Follow the road to the boat launch. Look south, the loons were even with the point on the left about a quarter-mile away. Matt Hafner College Park, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================