Emily Runnells and I made a quick stop at EPCAL (Suffolk County) this afternoon to watch the Rough-legged Hawks (saw 4 in total, 3 light and one dark). Just before we left, we walked over to a dead bird upside-down in the snow, right at the start of the west runway (perhaps 30-40 meters from the road). Thinking we would find a goose, imagine our surprise when it turned out to be a Common Loon. Here's a link to a picture: https://flic.kr/p/r8atsJ
Has anyone else seen this bird sitting there? The carcass was in pristine condition (though quite frozen). We're curious about how long it may have been there - we suspect that scavengers would not take long to discover a meal like that, even if it's pretty icy. We also speculated about the circumstances that led the bird to end up in grassland habitat so far from the shore... Michael Schrimpf Sound Beach -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --