I was out of town in PA for a family celebration on Saturday and Sunday and
was not able to try for the Pacific Loon at Buck Creek on Saturday or
Sunday.

I arrived at the boat ramp north of the beach at about 11:15 am on Monday.
John Stine (correct spelling?) from Hilliard arrived there at about the
same time, and we started scanning.  Between 11:30 and 12 noon, I found a
loon that we ID'd as the Pacific Loon.  It was out in the middle of the
lake to the west of the boat ramp and was preening and not diving very much
at first.  The top of the head and back of the neck were very dark and
almost black while the throat and neck were very white.  The border of the
black on the side of the neck was very straight without the white dagger
and dark neck collar that is present on Common Loon and the head was very
rounded on the crown and without the "bump" that is visible on Common
Loons.  The bill was relatively small and dark and depending on its
position relative to the darker water background was sometimes hard to see
as the bird preened.  This loon was not a Red-throated Loon as it lacked
the extensive white on the face of RTLO and the bill was wrong for RTLO,
lacking the relative straight or upturned upper mandible and curved lower
mandible, yielding an upturned appearance to the bill.  Neither John nor I
could see a chin strap.  I never was able to see the vent.  We continued
watching this bird for about 15 to 20 minutes when I needed to leave for an
emergency visit to a restroom.  When I returned, John told me that a
passing boat caused the loon to dive and disappear.  We could not find this
loon again, but did find a more distant loon or two way across the like
closer to the west shore and north of the viewing area near the visitor
center.  One of those loons appeared to me to be a Common Loon due to the
large size and light color of the bill.  However, these loons were too
distant to ID for certain.  John left between 1 and 2 pm and I continued
scanning for a while.  Then, I went to the viewing area on the west side
behind the visitor center to scan the west side of the lake and saw at
least one or two more distant loons.  I walked the mowed grassy area to the
lake outlet that goes to the concrete overflow and tried scanning the
western part of the lake but found only Horned Grebes.  When I walked back
to my car, I met Doug Overacker and Julie, who had just seen a Common Loon
southeast of that location near the rock dam.  As we talked and looked for
birds, a Common Loon took off showing its large size, big light colored
bill and neck collar.  It circled and headed toward the marina where it
landed.  This confirmed for me that I had not seen a Common Loon earlier.
The loon previously ID'd as the Pacific Loon was smaller and with a smaller
bill.

Doug suggested that I hike to the Graybill Homestead to view the western
part of the lake, which I did.  I found more Horned Grebes and a flock of
Buffledheads.  I did see a loon briefly to the east toward the viewing area
behind the visitor center.  So, I returned to the viewing area near the
visitor center but found no nearby loons but saw a loon beyond the boat
ramp on the east side north of the beach.  I returned to the east side to
the boat ramp to scan and found a Common Loon near the marina.

After a quick visit to the marina, I left at about 5:20 pm as the sun was
setting.  I left in total agreement with Paul Hurtado and others that this
Pacific Loon is very difficult to find and to see extremely well.  John and
I were lucky to see this Pacific Loon as well as we did.

During my 6 hours of searching, I found
Common Loon 3, Pacific Loon 1, Horned Grebe 6, Bufflehead 20, Ruddy Duck
15, Mallard 25, Gadwall 2, American Coot 20, Canada Goose 32 plus lots of
Bonaparte's Gulls as well as Ring-billed Gulls and about 20 Rusty
Blackbirds in the woods on my hike to the Graybill Homestead.

Jay G Lehman, Cincinnati, OH
Sent from Droid Razr

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