Re: [MDOsprey] YELLOW-BILLED LOON in St. Mary's County, MD

Charlie Muise (cmmbirds@yahoo.com)
Thu, 4 Nov 1999 15:30:52 -0800 (PST)


Hi folks,

Whew!!  Am I glad that someone with a lot more
skill and experience got to this bird while it
was still around.  The location of across the
river and south a bit sounds exactly like where
it was heading to when Elizabeth and I saw it. 
We had the luck to see it from only about 20 feet
out, or else I never would have made anything of
it.  I also would have been lost without the help
of Elizabeth Winter, who has some experience with
YBLO.  The heavy neck, I notice, is something I
neglected to mention.  We never saw the 2nd neck
band or the legs, as it was very actively diving.

And lucky me - today I learned the term "gonydial
break"

Good birding,
Charlie Muise

--- Jane Kostenko <jkostenko@somd.lib.md.us>
wrote:
>     The Sea Breeze picnic table effect has hit!
> Yes, the possible
> YELLOW-BILLED LOON, reported November 3 by
> Charlie Muise was seen from the
> Sea Breeze Restaurant in St. Mary's County (you
> remember, the crabhouse with
> the Kelp Gull?) by Paul O'Brien and visiting
> Idaho birder John Gatchet (very
> familiar with yellow-billed loons) at 12:30
> today, November 4. They watched
> it from across the shore until it flew off
> downriver at 2 p.m. (minutes
> before I got there).
>     Apologies in advance to Paul O'Brien for
> any errors (the errors will be
> mine, not his) in this posting. I was
> scribbling notes and key words, but
> one line I wrote word for word, "I feel very
> confident about it." -- "it"
> being the ID of this loon as yellow-billed.
> Mind you that the loon in
> question was viewed from across the river (it
> was in Calvert County waters
> the whole time, including when it flew) and
> there was shimmer, which Paul
> said had lessened as time passed. Conditions
> were/are: clear skies, mild
> breeze, temps in the 50s, bright sun. Time:
> 12:30 p.m. - 1:55 or 2 p.m. Here
> goes:
> 
> o    intermediate plumage
> o    two dark brown bands on the neck, seen
> best when it flew. Usually only
> saw one band when it was diving
> o    neck was "substantial"
> o    very dark/dark brown head
> o    no auricular spot (Paul explained the
> coloration on the head that made
> this, but I didn't get it all down)
> o    straw yellow bill (Paul said that flash of
> light color (the bill) was
> what first caught his eye as he was scanning
> the distant loons)
> o    bill deep at base with sharp gonydial
> break halfway out
> o    bill was kept upright most of the time
> o    some duskiness at base, top and bottom
> (culmen), not at the gape
> o    when it flew, Paul felt the legs and feet
> were light/pinkish, and gave
> the impression of not being as big as the legs
> and feet of the common loon
>     While it was too far out for this detail,
> what had captured Paul's
> interest in this sighting was Charlie's
> description of the eye-ring (I
> believe I've got that right, not the neck
> ring).
>     The loon was at the Sea Breeze, but on the
> picnic table side of the
> restaurant, and directly across the river,
> where there is a cluster of
> buildings on a grassy slope, then a single
> building on a grassy slope. The
> bird fed between those areas, if I've got this
> right.
> 
> Jane Kostenko
> jkostenko@somd.lib.md.us
> California, Maryland
> 
> Yesterday is history.
> Tomorrow is a mystery.
> Today is a gift; that's why they call it the
> PRESENT.
> 
> 
> 
> 


=====
******************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist
Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary
Maryland, USA
cmmbirds@yahoo.com
"Leave the gun;  take the cannoli"
******************************
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