RE: The DC Pacific Loon

Ohmono (dstrother@pop.dn.net)
Mon, 01 Jun 1998 17:51:45 -0400


Having been alerted by Dave Winer, I packed my binoculars and scope in
the trunk this morning.  At 0730, from the little lot off Maine Avenue
under the 14th Street bridge, I could see the loon even before getting
out of the car.  It was about 3/4 of the way across from the fish boats
to the Hains Point seawall, pigging out on small fish that were right at
the surface.  Went straight to the scope and had a great time watching
it.  The funniest thing was when it got a bluegill and couldn't get it
down; it would do a sort of hop-dance forward while thrusting its neck
high.  After a few tries it would spit it out and go back to the easy
ones.  Spent an hour with my binoculars observing the area between the
railroad bridge and Hains Point at mid-day, when a number of the recent
sightings have been reported; even sat and observed for infrequent
surfacings as observed at mid-day when the fish wouldn't be at the
surface.  Didn't see it at all.