Subject: All Four Loon Species, Canada Place 1/18/97
Date: Jan 18 21:39:15 1997
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

>From 12:30--2:45 PM this afternoon, the Juv/Basic 1 Yellow-billed Loon
(YBLO) was in close proximity to the N end of Canada Place in downtown
Vancouver BC, easily visible from the food fair cafeteria at the seaward end
of CPlace. This bird was first present there on Dec 08 1996. Also present
were 1 ad. Pacific Loon _Gavia pacifica_ (pretty scarce itself in the Inner
Harbor; grey-flanked, close enough to see chinstrap; PALO), 1 Red-throated
Loon (RTLO), and 4 Common Loons (COLO) all too far for aging. A complete
species list is below the comments.

Comment: The same description obtains as then, with the exception that the
distal half of the bill is now completely pale yellow-white and beginning to
show a distinct gonydeal angle on the mandible, forming the heavier 'wedge'
structure typical of YBLO: basal one-quarter of mandible dusky, with some
dusky business on basal half of culmen and tomus. Pale-faced and -necked
with a very distinct vertical dark grey-brown post-ocular spot; the most
conspicuous mark on this bird was not the bill but the head and neck
pattern, while the 'checkerboard' back pattern is very distinct. Another
distinctive mark is a solid grey-brown triangular shoulder mark contrasting
with the pale sideneck, unlike the Common Loons in the vicinity.
Recognisable at great distance as the only pale large loon in the area,
because paler-necked and -headed, more pale scapular and covert edgings,
warmer brown and grey-brown than the dark cold greys and grey-browns of
basic-plumaged COLO.

Behavior: The bird ranged from about 20 meters at closest to 500-600 meters
at furthest, and undertook feeding dives from close in to the Canada Place
dock to out in the center of the Inner Harbor, submerging for an average
duration of 75 seconds per dive in the 15 observed dives, and typically (but
not always) re-emerging between about 50-75 meters in roughly the same
direction it was pointing when diving. Over the observation period, the
bird's foraging route took it twice in a large counterclockwise circle, from
initial observation near the Brunswick Shoal beacon off Stanley Park's
Brockton Point southward into Coal Harbor, eastward past the N end of Canada
Place until the bird was diving to avoid getting run over by the SeaBus just
off the terminal to the east of Canada Place, north into the center of the
harbor, then west to the vicinity of the beacon again.

Interestingly (to me, at any rate), was a subtle difference in diving
technique between this YBLO and the COLO: where the latter tend to dive
without much turbulence, often more like a sneaking-off sinking than diving,
the YBLO tended to more of a jump-dive, churning the surface with powerful
upthrusts from its feet (feeds deeper than COLO?; the one time it
re-emerged, it had a small sole, a bottomfish).

Oh, yes: did I mention that though it was a cold, grey, raw, foul day
outside, I was able to study this bird in great comfort with my feet up on
the radiator, Kenny the Snooze on the Muzak, warm and dry, sipping my
coffee, eating souvlaki, and reading my way through one of Sarah Paretsky's
'V.I. Warshawski' novels (great series, BTW) in between sweeping the harbor
waters with the bins? This is getting ridiculous. I'm turning into a
cappuccino birder. Somebody help me. Please. ;-)

Conditions: Temp: 8 degrees C; Wind: calm to E-NE 10-15; Barom: falling, as
Pacific Low moving through region; Precip: showers, varying between light to
heavy; Cloud: low nimbostratus overcast; Visibility: 5-10 km, variable; Sea:
calm to light easterly ripple.

Red-throated Loon 1
Pacific Loon 1 ad Bsc
Common Loon 4
Yellow-billed Loon 1 jv/Bsc 1
loon sp. 4
Red-necked Grebe 1
Western Grebe 19
Aech. Grebe sp. 26
Double-crested Corm. 2
Brandt's Cormorant 3
Pelagic Cormorant 5
cormorant sp. 11
Surf Scoter 2
scaup sp. c900* all in flight
scoter sp. 15
Barrow's Goldeneye 5 3f 2m
goldeneye sp. c50
Mew Gull c300
Glaucous-winged Gull c30
Western X Gl.-winged 6
gull sp. c30
Northwestern Crow c50

*nearly certain to be Lesser Scaup from the large Lost Lagoon roost, steady
eastward movement of small (10-15 birds) to large (500+) flocks in flight to
feeding areas near the Ballantyne Docks in the vicinity of the N end of
Salisbury Street in East Vancouver (located by Evelyn Whiteside--pers comm).


Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada When I found out that seven of my years
(604) 668-5073 vx was only one of theirs,
(604) 668-5028 fx I started biting absolutely everything.
mprice at mindlink.net
michael.price at istar.ca -Max Carlson (Ron Carlson's dog)