Posted by Forrest Brownell on August 02, 1997 at 18:06:08:
In Reply to: Re: (a)Finding Dogs' Home (b)LakeDistrict tips posted by Kathryn Lawrence on July 31, 1997 at 15:22:34:
Kathryn Lawrence is, I think, right. Dick's Great Northern Diver
and the Common Loon of the America's are one and the same
Gavia immer. Indeed the Common Loon is still known as
the Great Northern in many parts of New England, and that name
is perhaps the more appropriate, as the 'Common' Loon is nowhere
truly common in the waters of New York and New England.
Despite that, I've been fortunate enough to see a mated pair
of Great Northerns on my 'home waters' for several years running
now, both spring and fall. (I live on one of the many hydroelectric
impoundments along New York's Raquette River, 'the best dammed
little river in North America', according to the flacks for
the local power company.)
Sadly, the pair has never, to my knowledge, raised chicks here --
I suspect that the two go elsewhere, to a pond or lake less
frequented by Hullabaloos. (This is too benign a term, really,
but AR was perhaps too civilized -- and too civil -- a man to use
a more expressive word.) The divers' recurring presence, however,
is always a welcome reminder of the tenacity of wild creatures,
even in the face of apparently overwhelming obstacles.