After my original post we had a better look at the loon. Doug Futuyma arrived later and confirmed it was a Pacific. The bird was mostly in winter adult plumage, but with a few large white marks more visible from one side (Right? not sure) which were probably the beginnings of the white bars that it gets in breeding plumage. There was a sharp demarcation between the dark gray neck side and white, more so on the lower neck, where it curved inward towards the center. It appeared to have a necklace, and the neck had a pale buffy wash to it. What first caught Bobby Rosetti's eye was the brownish look to the side of the neck. The back of the neck was silvery gray contrasting with the brown sides of the neck and the blackish back.
The bird stayed very close to the shore along the marsh northwest of the dock, often disappearing for a while. Eventually it swam out into the bay eastwards disappearing behind the distant island where the Osprey nest is, maybe around 3:30 or so. We did not see the previously reported Ruff, however we did spot a breeding plumage type Reeve, very mottled looking with greenish legs and lacking the white at the base of the darkish bill. It was first seen directly opposite (north) of the dock by the pilings in the open water around 3 PM, and shortly afterwards flew northwest and disappeared into the marsh where it could not be relocated. Between April 13 and 24 in 2013 2 ruffs were also seen here -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
