For the 5th year in a row, a PACIFIC LOON has shown up at Kerr Reservoir in
Mecklenburg County. Today was the first day this season that I've checked
the lake and I found the bird rather quickly in it's usual spot at the tip
of the Palmer Point Day Use Area. Palmer Point can be reached by following
route 4 south across the Kerr Dam and following that road down a couple of
miles before taking a right turn on Palmer Point Rd. This road will lead
to the day use area. As is usually the case, the bird was fairly distant
and a spotting scope is highly recommended if chasing this bird.
Also at Palmer Point this morning were 2 scoters that were hanging
together. One was a SURF SCOTER and the other a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER.
These are the first scoters I have seen down there in the last 5 years.
After looking at the illustrations in "The Sibley Guide to Birds", I'm
guessing that the Surf Scoter was a first year male and the White-winged
Scoter was an adult female but, of course, I could be wrong. I ran into
Cleve and Lou Tanner while there and Cleve told me that he had seen the
White-winged Scoter the last time he was down there. Hopefully, it or both
will hang around until the CBC on 1/3.
Other birds nearby included a small flock of BUFFLEHEAD, 1 RING-NECKED
DUCK, several HORNED GREBES and a decent showing of COMMON LOONS. I didn't
have time to check other parts of the lake. It was a banner Christmas
morning. Good birding.
Adam D'Onofrio
Dinwiddie Co.
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