Quote:
Originally Posted by Smitty1
I am pretty sure they were loons. The way they were diving and coming back up. Profile looked like loons.
A freind mine said he saw about 15 of them on Lake Opechee last week as well.
Smitty
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If your friend saw 15 of them close together, then they were most likely mergansers. Those birds have been grouping together on Winni for the last couple weeks. I have never seen loons group together. That doesn't mean they never do it, but that it's rare. All my life I have seen hundreds of loons, always solitary.
A couple years ago I was certain that I saw loons flying around in winter when we had open water. I took a picture and it looked for all the world like loons, so I sent it to the Loon Center. One of their biologists determined it was mergansers. Since then I have gotten much better at spotting these "loon impersonators."
Last year, as the April 16 storm was just getting started with snow and high winds, I saw what I thought HAD to be a merganser in the open water of Black Cat Shoals. I didn't think that would be enough open water for any loon. With the long lens on the camera I saw a more loon-like pattern on the bird's markings. I was still suspicious. The bird itself finally put the issue to rest when it sang out -- the telltale loon song. Then it took off into the snow, heading southeast.
We endured quite a damaging storm after that, lost power for 30 hours, but a week later we were in the low 80s, iceout was declared, and the loon was back, singing back and forth with others in the distance that I couldn't see.
I always remembered that one because it was as if the loon had come to announce that although this major storm was only beginning, the season of song was going to begin as soon as the storm ended. It was as if the loon knew, "Things will get worse but then they'll get a lot better and stay that way."