Yesterday evening I headed down to the pier (Johnnie Mercer's) to decompress after a long workday and was pleasantly surprised with the conditions. The ocean was calm but there were birds everywhere which is rare for the afternoon. Usually the loon flocks are in close in the morning and move offshore by 9am. I think the cold snap had birds and bait fish moving in close to shore.
The first bird to greet me was this super cooperative Razorbill.
Ten minutes after that, the first of what I think was two Pacific Loons was spotted.
Whenever I see Pacific Loons showing white flanks, I immediately look more closely to see if it could be a possible Arctic. This one had visibly white flanks but was clearly resting and the white was evenly distributed across the whole flank. This was at approximately 4:15pm. I am adding times in case my readers want to get some perspective on the spread between my pictures so they can get an idea of changes in plumage over time.
The amount of white on the flanks shifted as the bird cut through the water but it was visible for quite some time.
I was hoping this shot at 4:25 showing its flesh colored foot webbing would offer a clue but apparently most winter loons have this webbing color. I think this was the same bird, but keep in mind I was not staring at only this bird. There were hundreds of loons and Razorbills and I was spending time scanning the ocean. I was actually hoping for a Dovekie but I didn't pick one out.
At 4:27 it started to swim right towards me. The "chinstrap" is almost visible as a kind of shadow under the chin but it didn't have any real line like some do.
At 4:31 it passed right under the front of the pier!
Does the bill look totally straight to you or does it have a bit of a downward bent almost giving it a frowning appearance? Probably not enough to be a convincing Arctic and the back does look especially dark.
Red-throated Loon trying to distract me.
At 4:32 it passed to the south. The bulging brow was a little uncharacteristic for a Pacific. You have to wonder how many of these birds are hybridizing? Or how many are Arctics masquerading as Pacifics?
Another Razorbill.
Then a good 20 minutes after my last sighting of the Pacific heading south, I picked up this bird well to the south. Is it the same bird or another? Your guess is as good as mine but if it is the same bird, he did a 180 and headed back towards me. Personally I think that is unlikely because most of the birds I see keep going in one general direction.
Pacific at 4:52... This one had white flanks flaring near the rear but the head shape looked more classic for a Pacific than the first one in my opinion.
At 4:53 it was joined by a Common Loon which made for a nice comparison.
This shot shows nicely the fading color on the back of the head almost a slate gray in the otherwise black upper parts.
Cruising north at 4:57.
At 4:58 I said my goodbyes as my feet were frozen and it was getting too dark for pics.
I am capturing these as two different Pacific Loons but if anyone has any different opinion, let me know.
I think I will go back out again tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment