Hi Tweets,

Ruth Sullivan writes:

>hello michael,
>how manny miles you think this would be where the yellow-billed loon was
>sighted?

Ruth, it's about 100 mi from Point Roberts WA to Seattle WA, and then just
over 800 mi to San Francisco CA, so if it's the same bird (and considering
the great scarcity of Alternate-plumaged Yellow-billed Loons (YBLO) any time
in Cascadia, there's no reason not to think so) it's travelled about 900
miles in six or seven days. Loons are quite strong flyers, so there'd be
nothing remarkable about this kind of travel. What would be interesting is
to see if there are definite staging areas for these loons along the way
from the Arctic to the wintering territories or whether they simply stop
whenever they need to make a pitstop for food.

>its pretty rare to see this loon so late in the season in bright
>breeding plumage.

Can any of Tweeterdom's Alaskan/Yukon (do we have anyone in extreme northern
BC?) sources tell us if YBLO molt later than Common Loon? Or, perhaps more
likely, it's delaying its Basic molt until it's on its wintering territory.

>i was suprised the photos came out so good,because we
>never stopped the boat and i handhold my camera with a 800mm lense.but
>again, using the max kodak 800.

Handholding a camera at 800mm? Yikes, you must have hands of stone, nerves
of steel, Ruth!

>can you tell on a plumage what sex it would
>be?

I'm curious myself how this bird was assigned a 'male' plumage, and have a
query in about it; maybe someone's found a plumage feature that allows us to
tell the difference.

>i will ask dennis when he comes back frm his trip, maybe he put this
>photo on his website.

Good idea; it sounds like a pretty spectacular bird.

> thank you for writing such a good and detailed report supject:brandt's
>comorant i will remember
>quote:keep this notes in my back pack for further use.

You betcha! I forgot to mention that if it's possible, try to get close-up
looks in March-April on any of the adult cormorants, particularly in
sunlight. Although we often think of them as a sort of grotty, rather
reptilian bunch of birds, they're subtly patterned and quietly gorgeous
birds close up, with each species showing something different in the
patterns of scapular/covert feathers, iridescence and color of its glossy
sheen. And those Lake Louise-turquoise eyes!

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net