Raining Cats and Dogs and a Loon?!!
Driving south on the Sterling Highway at Mile 104, about 8 miles south
of Soldotna, I saw two cars pulled over with their flashers on. I drove cautiously past an object sitting on the yellow lines in the middle of the road, then realized it was a large bird of some sort. I immediately pulled over and ran back as one man approached the bird, put his jacket over it, and carried it off to the grass.
We looked at it; I told him it was a young Pacific loon. It looked OK, but with loons on land it's hard to tell. He was surprised to learn they can't walk very well, but did see that its legs were way back towards the
tail.
The troopers stopped en route back to Soldotna and called USFW as this
is a protected migratory bird. I waited with the bird, sitting calmly under a light blanket, and called the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. With the KNWR on the way, the troopers also departed.
I learned later that the young Pacific Loon was unharmed, and was
released into a nearby lake where it immediately began diving for
sticklebacks. Had it been injured, Era would have flown it to
Anchorage, and then taken to the Bird Treatment Center.
I have heard of loons mistaking a wet, black road for water, and then
being unable to fly away as they need a really long runway to lift off
their heavy bodies. This is the first time I've ever seen it. That juvie was very, very lucky to survive this usually fatal mistake.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
