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Re: Pacific Loon reported at Pea Island, NC



Hi,

I did see the Loon. That was ca 1 hour observation, the hardest was to eliminate Arctic Loon. Anyway I saw the birds very well, he was most of that time on the water, preening. In the first moment I thought about Arctic and even Red-throated b/c of a very light grayish neck and thin bill, however there were no other suggestions for Red-throated. Day before and after that record I have had one or two immature Common Loon in the same place and on the W side of Bonnie Bridge (so had a nice comparison).
I have just came from the Pea Is. with my broken car and first have to fix than d...n vehicle, then write more details about my stay observations. Some nice birds but in general the shorebird migration has just started and hasn't been very intense for last 6 days.
I was counting shorebirds two times a day (morning and evening) on Pea Island in 4 locations and did additional some 2-3 hours of seawatching every day.
More details soon.
As far as the question if anything like that could be possible, the answer is yes. Why not? How many people make regular seawatching (means a few hours almost everyday with a good field scope) from the shore in June, July, August? So absence of records could be caused by lack of regular controls. In that case the bird is probably rather accidental here, however only probably.
I saw also one day a pair of full adult Roseate Terns, and almost every day a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls (immature birds in 2 and 3 calendar year), so are these species so rare? How many people make regular (everyday) Gull, Terns counting there? The truth is if ones doesn't count the chance of finding some "rare" species is very, very low. One has to count (means check and verify) every bird to find that "odd one". So the question should sound rather how it is possible that it is probably the first summer record ? For the answer see above ;-)
In the other hand if it will not be accepted or so by Record Committee, then there is no problem at all.
As far as Gannets (there are records from other places on the coast) I did not see any. Instead in last Tuesday betweeen 3 and 4 pm I had 12 Cory's Shearwater and 8 Wilson's Storm Petrels (the same place in front of the Pea Is. NWR HQ)



Mike


jeff lewis wrote:

Hi folks,

Someone reported (on the clipboard at the visitor
center) seeing an imm Pacific Loon in the ocean
opposite the headquarters at Pea Island on July 3rd. Could this be possible? Does anyone know if there are
any confirmed east coast records in summer?


Jeff Lewis
Manteo, NC

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