I went to the game farm today to census crows and try to find some year birds (like Black Vulture). I was looking in the active pheasant pen at the NW corner of farm where the Black Vultures have been hanging out. I didn't see Black Vultures, but I noticed a RED-THROATED LOON sitting in the snow in the field north of the farm! Ten feet into Dryden!
Although the loon made a pitiful effort to "run" away from me, it was pretty simple to wrap it up in a blanket and pick it up. Its wings and feet were functioning well, and I didn't see any blood, injuries, or abrasions on it, so I decided to take it to Cayuga Lake and release it. It did not understand, of course, anything I was trying to do for it, but it knew what the lake was. As I was carrying it down to the shore at East Shore Park, it started lunging forward in my hands and making running motions with its feet. It swam away quickly when I released it, dove, came up, flapped, and started preening. Not the way I thought my day was going to start. I have a photo in my checklist at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41675570. Kevin -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
