THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503170051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
DR. PAUL SPITZER has a foolproof way of weeding out those likely to be hostile to his interesting, if offbeat, occupation.
He's a loon expert.
``When I tell people that's what I am, some respond by waving a circle around their ear,'' he said. ``I know instinctively that I'll go nowhere with such people.''
``But if a person scratches the head and asks a question, I may find a convert,'' he explained.
Spitzer was on the Virginia-North Carolina coast this weekend looking for floating rafts of loons offshore. Based in Beaufort, N.C., the Marylander is working under a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation attempting to determine the relationship between dead loons and the health of the entire ecosystem.
Loons rank very low on the scale of popular interest. Song writers rarely write tunes about them. Even the oldies radio stations do not dust off favorites entitled ``Loon River'' or ``Racing With the Loon.'' Or even a Kate Smith version of ``When the Loon Comes Over the Mountain.''
The dictionary says a looney person is one who is both stupid and awkward.
Spitzer believes the loon is getting a bum rap from the dictionary and the public.
He says the common loon - a large goose-size bird with thick neck and long, heavy and streamlined body - does look stupid when it is on land, where most folks in Hampton Roads see it.
``They look clunky because their feet are positioned so far back on their bodies,'' Spitzer said. ``A loon on the beach is usually in trouble or not healthy.''
But in the air or on the water, the loon is magnificent. And of the flying birds, it is unexceled as a swimmer and diver. Spitzer prefers the British name for the bird: the great northern diver.
Unlike gannets, which catch fish by dropping from the sky - penetrating the water like projectiles to find their prey below the surface - the loon begins its dive while resting on the water.
Propulsion for the loon's underwater descent is provided by its spectacular feet. The rear location of their web-toed feet is a boon to the loon (I couldn't help myself) when diving, Spitzer observed.
``Each foot is about the size of a human hand, and the feet are used like propellers,'' he said.
Although there is evidence that loons are capable of diving to a depth of 200 feet and staying underwater for five minutes, Spitzer says the usual dive is much shallower and only 45 seconds long.
``Loons don't surface to eat, they swallow their food whole,'' he said. Loons tend to flock-feed, and large numbers of loons will chase schools of fish underwater, tiring them out by chasing them toward the surface.
Small fish such as peanut anchovies are a favorite food for loons in our region, along with bay anchovies and silversides.
Public awareness of loons in Hampton Roads - like everywhere - is slight, because the birds migrate in ``dribs and drabs'' rather than in flocks.
``People do not look up in the sky, see large flights of loons and point, saying, `Look! There go the loons','' he explained.
But the loons are around us, nevertheless. In February, thousands of them are molting off the Virginia coast.
``During the molting season, they can't fly,'' Spitzer said. ``There are flocks of them several miles offshore. They have to stay out there on the ocean, taking the worst wind and waves can hurl at them in February.''
In May, dressed in new plumage, the loons will begin their migrations from the Virginia coast to lakes and ponds in the forests of Maine, Minnesota, Michigan and Canada.
On takeoff for migration, the loon's flight is labored, but once airborne, its rapid and powerful wing beats carry it northward at speeds up to 60 mph.
Spitzer has studied loons since 1989 and has spent thousands of hours observing red-throated and common loons from a small motorboat.
The common loon, which is brownish-gray in winter, takes on spectacular plumage in the breeding season, Spitzer noted. Then its upper body is black with a bold checkered pattern, one of nature's most resplendent and dramatic water-fowl.
Although the birds are considered inedible by most, until this century, loon hunting in the spring was a tradition on Harker's Island, N.C., which is tucked behind Cape Lookout. The loons were gunned down while beginning their northward migration.
``Harker's Islanders always had loons for the Easter meal with rutabagas,'' Spitzer reported.
After long study, Dr. Spitzer rallies to the defense of the loon whenever possible.
``No wild animal is stupid,'' he said. ``Its otherness comes from living in a world other than our own.''
Well said, loon man. by CNB