Mistaken Identity - 26 Nov 2023
With rain and snow forecasted for the afternoon I took a run down to the Detroit River Hawk Watch. I stopped first at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge (Humbug Marsh Unit) to look for a Cattle Egret that was found by Bobby Irwin, but it was not visible (it would be refound later in the morning).
Skies had been clear at dawn but were now overcast with the front coming in. At 10 am few birds were flying so we concentrated our efforts on a Common Goldeneye (female) in the channel, and 3 loons that could be seen flying over the lake off Celeron Island.
Several Bonaparte's Gulls were foraging in the channel in front of us, and the Little Gull was seen flying farther south of the boat launch.
A pair of Bald Eagles flew across the lake, followed by a single Golden Eagle (adult) that passed south of the count site.
A loon was spotted in the channel off of Cove Point, and it had characteristics of the Pacific Loon reported over the weekend, so I grabbed the scope and hiked down to the large bridge overlooking Lake Erie. The bird floated in close enough to get some digiscoped images at 60X magnification on the scope
It would turn out to be a Common Loon with a large block head and heavy bill. The twin collar patches on the neck helped to correct my earlier misidentification as a Pacific Loon.
Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway have a nice article describing the differences of Common, Pacific and Red-throated Loons in Winter. For comparison here are images of a Pacific Loon photographed in 2011 at Sterling State Park.
Things to look for in the Pacific Loon is the more rounded head, smaller bill (slightly downturned and less sabre-like), scaly back and thin dark collar at base of neck.
Hopefully we will have better chances to see it if it is still around.
Lake Erie Metropark, Wayne, Michigan, US
Nov 26, 2023 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 kilometer(s)
Checklist Comments: Detroit River Hawk Watch and Cove Point trail
7 species
Little Gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) 1 Continuing in channel among Bonaparte's Gulls. Small gull w/ black underwings.
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) 10
Common Loon (Gavia immer) 3
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) 1
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 2
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea) 3
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
