Hi: Viewing distant loons is a great example of how distance can become the big deceiver in loon-watching.
Three loons were smack dab in the middle of Cherry Creek Reservoir. Without being able to determine any field guide features I slowing began arriving at the conclusion that all three loons were Pacific, based solely on meaningless years of distant loon watching. One loon just vanished and the remaining two loons began swimming towards me. As the lead loon came closer I begin to see the field-guide features for a Common Loon, the other loon began swimming away in a diagonal direction were the head and neck features became obscured. And again I began speculating that that loon could be a Pacific. I realized that my loon identification vacillated based on distance and angle—a useful reminder of how easily we can become deceived when viewing distant loons. Bob Righter Denver, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/B4D46B33-CCA5-417F-8697-790AA4CEEA33%40earthlink.net. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
