[at-l] Back from Boston

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 08:04 PM 8/2/2004 -0400, ellen wrote:
>I occasionally see loons in sheltered salt-water coves in the winter, 
>where I understand they spend their winters, though mostly to the south of 
>Maine.
>
>But I've never heard or seen them here during the summer. The closest is a 
>brackish pond at the outlet of a coastal river 40 miles north of where I 
>live. We had a Maine Chapter, AMC, meeting there a few years ago and I was 
>surprised to hear loons calling in the distance.
>
>However, I'm not a bird -- or a flower person -- though I would like to 
>be.     I have a hard enough time remembering the names of people, though 
>somehow I do better at birds and flowers. I wonder why that is.
>
>Weary

When in doubt there's always Google. According to the map on this link 
<http://www.geocities.com/jjdox/Loons/loons.html> their range includes 
coastal areas and there are several varieties. This site 
<http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nsbirds/bns0002.htm> deals with the 
Pacific Loon which, oddly enough, breeds in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic, 
not the Pacific. From the 5 or 6 sites I checked it appears that they breed 
inland but spend winters on the coasts. Cormorants are commonly found in 
coastal areas and (according to 
<http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i1200id.html>) "Loons are similar 
on the water, but lack hooked bills", so it *may* have been a cormorant 
that OB saw. They are both diving birds. The difference is that the 
cormorant has a hooked bill (difficult to see from a distance) and all 
black feathers while the common loon has white spots on its back and white 
on its neck. That *could* also be difficult to see depending on distance 
and conditions. Then of course there is always the non-conformist bird that 
declines to do what the rest of the flock does. I.E. This isn't Great Snowy 
Owl territory but I saw one once on my way to work. He was sitting on a 
fence post watching the cars go by, utterly unperturbed by the traffic.