Pacific Loon is a rarity that is reported every year from the New England coast, including ME. Most don’t stick around for multiple days so are not readily chaseable. And even if they are chaseable, identification can be a challenge, especially when the target bird is bobbing around on the ocean in the distance. Over the years I have tried to chase after at least a couple reported in ME without any luck. Most had turned out to be one-day wonders, or maybe even misidentified. In any case, this was a target bird for me in ME.
Then came an e-bird report of one seen off
Eastern Point in Biddeford. There were
no listserve posts of the bird, so it was a bit under the radar screen. But when it was reported over the next couple
days on e-bird, I started to take notice.
Then finally came a first report on the listserve making it sound rather
reliable, though still there were few details on the location or tips for
finding it. Eastern Point sticks out
into the ocean with a nearly 270 degree view of the water. So without any further details on the
location, that would make for a lot of ocean to scan. Finally, an e-bird post from Louis Bevier
mentioned that the bird was close to the green buoy. So I made I made a quick call to Louis and he
told me the bird had been hanging out just south of the green buoy, which was itself
nearly directly east of the point. Armed
with Louis’ excellent directions, I called Denny Abbott, and we were on our
way.
When we arrived at the Eastern Point
Sanctuary skies were cloudy meaning there would be no glare off the water. But there was a strong breeze out of the SW
that created a bit of a wind chill, and some considerable swells and waves on
the ocean. So viewing conditions might
be a bit of a challenge. After a short
walk we arrived at the point and easily found the green buoy a couple hundred
yards to the east. With binoculars you
could pick out a large raft of Common Eiders and another raft of Scoters in the
general area. I set up my scope and
began to scan the area just south of the buoy.
On my first several scans I found several Red-necked Grebes but no Loons
of any variety. Then on the next scan I
found 2 Common Loons and had the briefest of views of another Loon before it
dove. Even though the sighting was for
only a couple seconds at most, I noticed it was darker-backed and smaller than
the Commons, so I was cautiously optimistic.
I put Denny on this area, and we scanned again. This time I had all 3 Loons swimming together
– 2 Commons and the third bird was indeed the Pacific Loon. Over the next several minutes the Pacific
stayed on the surface only disappearing briefly when it swam behind a
swell. We were able to see all the field
marks, including getting great comparisons with the Commons which were
frequently in the same field of view. I
can’t thank Louis Bevier enough for his excellent micro-directions.
Pacific Loon was #334 for me in ME, and
#1,989 for New England – just 11 to go to 2,000. And yet another statebird in November – the
best month for vagrants in New England.
I’ve now seen Pacific Loon in 13 states –
not bad for a bird typically only seen in the 4 states on the Pacific
coast. Though since it has a tendency
for vagrancy, I have now seen it as a rarity in the 5 coastal New England
states, along with MD, NV, AZ and CO.
(see my statebird map below)
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