Loon survey at Quabbin

Common Loon with chick on its back, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Common Loon (with distinct white mark on head) with chick on its back, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Common Loon with chick, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Pale juvenile with regular juvenile Common Loon, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Pale juvenile with regular juvenile Common Loon, Quabbin, July 11, 2014



Pale juvenile Common Loon, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Common Loon, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Common Loons with chick, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Common Loons with chick, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Common Loon egg (abandoned), Quabbin, July 11, 2014

Loon nesting raft, Quabbin, July 11, 2014

I spent the morning through midday assisting with a loon survey at Quabbin along with one of the biologist there.  I have come along on this survey for several years now and it never gets old seeing the breeding loons here.  We managed to find a total of 26 Common Loons with four of them being young of various ages including a tiny individual that spent most of its time under the wing of an adult and then up on one of the adults back.  Of the 22 adult loons only two were not in full breeding plumage and one of those was the palest individual I think I have ever seen.  It was a striking bird that I'm very happy to have gotten a close look at as from a distance it could easily have been mistaken for something more unusual.  More photos of the pale bird can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/sets/72157645221662167/
We also picked up two unhatched eggs from a couple of the loon rafts.  Both of these rafts did produce a single chick but the second egg never hatched.  I have included the list for the survey at the bottom.

Before starting the loon survey I spent a little time on Prescott Peninsula checking a few fields for birds and hoping to find Red Crossbills again...no luck this time.


Loon survey-boat launch area 2 south along Prescott and then back north past shaft 12

Canada Goose  16
Common Loon  26     Four young, two juv (one very pale), remainder adults
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Turkey Vulture  4
Bald Eagle  2
Spotted Sandpiper  2
Ring-billed Gull  17
Belted Kingfisher  2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  7
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  8
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2
Tree Swallow  16
Barn Swallow  2
Black-capped Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  2
Veery  4
Hermit Thrush  2
American Robin  1
Gray Catbird  3
Cedar Waxwing  5
Ovenbird  3
Common Yellowthroat  3
Black-throated Blue Warbler  2
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  2
Black-throated Green Warbler  3
Eastern Towhee  2
Song Sparrow  2
Scarlet Tanager  3
Red-winged Blackbird  3
Common Grackle  2