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Molting Adult Pacific Loon |
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Lake Ontario at Oshawa
Harbour on 29 October 2010 |
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Pacific Loons breed on the Hudson Bay coast of northern Ontario and
they winter on the Pacific. They are a rare find in southern Ontario. |
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David Worthington first
spotted this Pacific Loon at about 10:30 a.m. from the pier in
Oshawa harbour. It is an adult molting into basic (winter) plumage.
29 October 2010. |
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The chinstrap is
visible. The dark spots on the chin and throat are remnants of alternate
(breeding) plumage, as are the large and small white spots on the
back. |
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Molting head and neck |
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At about 11:45 a.m.
there were two Pacific Loons. The second one was greyer on the head
and neck, white on the chin and throat with a distinct chinstrap and it
still had large white spots on the back. Is one of these the same as
the one Geoff Carpentier found on Sunday 24 October? |
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Links |
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Pacific Loon with more breeding plumage and less molted into winter
plumage. Photo by Janice
Melendez |
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Small
Winter Loon ID an article by Ron Pittaway and Michael King |
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Pacific,
Red-throated and Common Loons at Oshawa Harbour on 1 November
2011 |
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