The DC Pacific Loon
Rob (robert@csa.com)
Mon, 01 Jun 1998 13:30:44 -0400
A note about the Pacific Loon at East Potomac Park, Washington, DC. This
note is prompted by at least one post where the observer had seen white
flanks.
While a group of us were watching it in the river between 12 and 1 pm on
May 30, it was facing right. At least 15 times it extended its right foot
and waved it around in the air for roughly 15 seconds, then tucked it back
under the wing. After about the fifth round of this foot waving, we
noticed (at 40-100 foot range) that white belly feathers were extending up
on to the flanks. It seemed that this activity was causing the belly
feathers to be in disarray, and to protrude above the water line.
One of my companions (who has taken drawing courses) captured this
perfectly in a sketch when the bird faced away from us for a minute or
two--her drawing shows these belly feathers projecting loosely above the
water line yet not touching / curving back to the flank feathers. From the
side it seemed like the flank was white, though not nearly as white as on
illustrations of Arctic Loon in the 1997 _Birding_ magazine article about
Pacific and Arctic Loon.
After we noted the white flanks, the loon did not preen its belly, so the
flanks continued to look white.
I would love to know if anyone has seen the loon past mid-day Sunday.
Rob Hilton
robert@csa.com
Silver Spring/Bethesda, Md.