Hamlin Beach SP - Parking Area 4, Monroe, US-NY Oct 16, 2011 7:25 AM - 10:25 AM Protocol: Stationary Comments: One of the better days that we have had at Hamlin Beach. The biggest highlight was a completely unexpected breeding plumage adult YELLOW-BILLED LOON (see below for details), which I first saw in flight and then watched land in front of us. We also had good numbers of ducks all morning and three Parasitic Jaegers. Birds were almost all headed west. WEATHER: Strong WSW winds 20 - 30 mph. Mostly clear, with a few clouds mostly behind us. OBSERVERS: Chris Wood, Jessie Barry. Later joined by Andy Guthrie after we called to alert him to the Yellow-billed Loon (which, unfortunately, flew before Andy arrived). I expect there is a reasonable chance that this bird will remain on Lake Ontario to molt. 36 species (+5 other taxa)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 1380 Mostly birds that came in around 9:00 to land on the water just west of us. Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) 3 2 adults; 1 immature heading east. Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) 1 Gadwall (Anas strepera) 2 American Wigeon (Anas americana) 32 American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) 3 American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) (Anas rubripes x platyrhynchos) 1 Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 27 Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) 9 Green-winged Teal (American) (Anas crecca carolinensis) 6 dabbling duck sp. (Anas sp.) 7 Probably wigeon, possibly pintail. Very distant. Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) 9 Redhead (Aythya americana) 4 Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) 9 Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) 119 Greater/Lesser Scaup (Aythya marila/affinis) 127 All headed west. Aythya sp. (Aythya sp.) 78 Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) 59 All headed east. No adult males. Those seen well all appeared to be 1st-years (???). White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca) 121 Flocks headed both directions; mostly east. Largest flock was of 23 birds. Black Scoter (Melanitta americana) 11 9 heading west. No adult males. Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) 11 9 seen well were adult males. 2 others too distant. Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 6 Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) 965 Careful count of birds as they flew to the west. As with other species other than scoters, almsot all birds were headed west. duck sp. (Anatinae sp.) 7 Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) 9 Common Loon (Gavia immer) 950 Very difficult to count. This represents a conservative estimate of birds headed west (ca 80% of the birds were heading west). Many birds were far offshore and blurred in the distance. About 25% still in mostly breeding plumage (only about 1% in full breeding plumage with no hint of head feathers replaced). Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii) 1 ***MEGA. Adult in alternate (breeding) plumage. Very poor and distant video shot with iPhone through Kowa scope at 60x uploaded to Flickr. This makes the bird appear much more distant than it was due to iPhone's poor video capabilities. Still images from video here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/6251883098/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/6251356531/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/6251882938/ We had been looking at several hundred loons in flight all morning (and yesterday morning). At 8:39am, I noticed a breeding plumage loon flying west. It was above the horizon against a bright background. The thing I first noticed about this bird was that it appeared to have no bill. Just a big black head with an angled forehead. I was thinking how odd it was, and couldn't ever think of seeing an all black-headed Common Loon without a mostly black bill and I couldn't understand why I couldn't see it. Even though I know YBLO has a pale bill that you could lose against the horizon, I couldn't really believe there was a Yellow-billed Loon in full breeding plumage. I kept watching the bird trying to figure out why I couldn't see a bill. Apparently I was mumbling to myself in a way that peaked Jessie's interest (Apparently when I mumble incoherently, she interprets this to mean I've found something "good"). Anyway, it dipped below horizon and came and landed on the water. At that point the water appeared deep blue and the pale yellow bill gleamed against the dark background and I yelled to Jessie that there was a "*$*@ breeding plumaged adult YELLOW-BILLED LOON". It landed within about 15 meters of a Common Loon (about 80% in breeding plumage). In direct comparison, the Yellow-billed Loon was slightly larger with the bill held more upward. The head appeared slightly more block with a flatter crown, and steeper forehead. The most obvious difference was the pale bill color with about an inch of dark on the top of the culmen extending from the forehead. The other thing that stood out was the much more extensive white appearance to the upperparts. This was noticeably and obviously different from any of the other Common Loons we had seen. We could not detect any difference in the white markings on the neck. We called Andy Guthrie, posted to Genesse Birds, and shortly after the bird flew off to the west. We watched the bird for a total of 6 minutes. There is no doubt this was a breeding plumaged Yellow-billed Loon. I expect this bird could remain on Lake Ontario to molt, given the large number of Common Loons which stage there. This was only about the 7th breeding plumage Yellow-billed Loon I have seen (same for Jessie). It was completely unexpected on this date and location. I've seen perhaps 45 Yellow-billed Loons, mostly in Alaska and Colorado. Jessie has seen similar numbers, mostly in Washington and Alaska. This is the first either of us has seen in New York. Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) 26 Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) 21 Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) 103 Mostly in one flock of 91 birds heading east. Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 1 Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 1 1 second-year. Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) 17 Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 375 Rough estimate. Herring Gull (American) (Larus argentatus smithsonianus) 90 Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) 2 Parasitic Jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus) 3 1 adult with tail steamers heading west at 7:42 am; 1 juv heading west at 8:39; 1 dark subadult (JHB, AG only). Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) 3 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 1 Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 5 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) (Junco hyemalis hyemalis/carolinensis) 1 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) Chris Wood & Jessie Barry eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
