Arctic Loon, Gavia arctica
February 19, 2008
Lake Tawakoni, Van Zandt County
10:30-10:45 AM
I arrived at the lake about 8:30 and had about 50 loons swimming in a NW direction toward the open water in single file from the spillway area of the dam. I scoped through them very carefully and didn’t see the Arctic or the Pacific. This main group disappeared off in the distance, though there were always small groups that would appear for a time and then move off. Sometime after 9:30 I saw the Red-throated Loon with one of these small groups. Shortly before I found the Red-throated Loon, the heat waves disappeared and details on the far shores became crystal clear, making viewing conditions much better. I continued scoping until about 10:15 when I went to the Holiday Marina to see if I could see anything from there. About 10:30 I found the Arctic Loon. Here are my notes: "[I am] looking at an Arctic/Pacific Loon with an egg-shaped [white] flank patch. The bird then sank lower into the water showing no flank patch at all. Then after a short time—maybe a minute—the bird, which had not dove, rose [high] out of the water showing the white patch along the [entire] sides. The egg-shaped flank patch was still present and appeared to be separate from the white sides [though connected to it]. Then the bird sank lower into the water and began to drift off toward the north looking like a Pacific Loon, although it was clearly an Arctic. The nape was brownish gray—not pale gray as on the Red-throated Loon that I saw earlier. Size—smaller than Common—though hard to tell relative to Pacific without one nearby for comparison. Flank patch very distinctive, brownish gray nape, smallish bill all noticeable [and distinctive from Common Loon]."
In January John O’Brien and David Sarkozi observed an Arctic/Pacific loon swimming very low in the water. Their initial thoughts were that it was a Pacific, but then one of John’s images show a very small white flank patch just evident on the low-riding (swimming) loon. The extent of the Arctic Loon’s flank patch or sides are dependent on how high the bird is riding in the water. Mike Austin’s report from Feb 1, 2008 noted that the bird was only showing the bulbous shaped flank patch unlike the photos from Jan 15. Today’s sighting was significant because it allowed me to see the bird show all three extremes—from no flank patch, only a bulbous flank patch, and the entire sides and flank patch white.
The bird was about 500 yards out and precluded digiscoping—even though the light was perfect and the bird was in an area with no heat waves. It was very easy to see details on this bird. While I was watching the bird, Richard Ray from Fox4 News in Dallas called to let me know he would be there in about an hour. He had hired a fishing guide to take us out but we couldn’t depart until 1:30 (which got pushed back to 2:00), but the guide could only depart from the West Tawakoni, area, not Holiday Marina. Our fishing guide was well aware of the loon concentration that hangs out on the southern end of the lake and told us that the loons will even come right up to the boats and take fish scraps from the fisherman. After departing in the boat at 2 PM, we made haste to the area where the loons often are seen, but only found about 10 Common Loons. We cruised along the dam, along the south shore and out in the lake where the loons are typically seen but didn’t have time to really do a thorough search. Clearly this option holds promise; unfortunately we ran out of time.
