Today, Marty Jacobson, Josh Martinez and I conducted bird point counts at Point Sable for sites 3, 5 and 9. Soon after arriving, we had nice looks at a lone Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus) from point 3. When we reached the end of the point, we could see many distant ducks but there was also a Common Loon (Gavia immer) fairly close in (see photo below). Also at the point, we had 9 swans fly over. They were either Tundra (Cygnus columbianus) or Trumpeter (Cygnus buccinators), but we were not sure which. Several other interesting flyovers included 10 Bonaparte’s Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) at point 5, 4 Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) from point 6 and a Rusty Blackbird at point 3. Migrant passerines included Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) and Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus). Marty asked if Josh or I ever see owls at Point Sable and almost on cue we found two Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus). One of the last birds we saw was a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) fishing in Wequiock Creek.
Nothing common about the song of the Common loon. As I recall, there are fossil specimens in the Vertebrate Museum at Cal dating back some 40 million years?