Bill & Carol Moody wrote:

>Was nursing my cold staring today out the window at the lower Patuxent
>River, practicing counting ruddy ducks, etc., when I notice a bird about
>half way across sort of causing a commotion.  Turned out to be a loon, and
>it had what appeared to be a (dead) little flounder in it's beak, about the
>size of your hand.  The loon held it in it's beak and "chomped" a couple of
>times, then dropped it in the water and dunked it two or three times, then
>brought it up and chomped it again, dunk it, over and over.  mostly it held
>it cross wise in it's bill (a bit hard to distinguish with the flounder).  I
>watched this go on for about 15 minutes wondering what was going on.  the
>platform of the fish was definitely bigger than the loon's throat, so
>thought maybe it was trying to cut in in pieces.  Eventually dismissed that
>thought when it came up with the mouth of the fish in the beak with tail
>sticking out, and "gulp" down it went, and the loon swam away happily (my
>interpretation).
>
>Is this a common feeding practice for a loon (or should that be a feeding
>practice for a comon loon)?
>
>
>Bill Moody
>Lexington Park, MD
>
>  
>
Just a stab in the dark, but maybe the loon you observed came up with a 
small type of flounder called a Hogchoker, /Trinectes maculatus/.  Maybe 
it just had to "tenderize" it a little before swallowing.

Andy Martin
Gaithersburg