Subject: Yellow-billed Loon
Date: Sep 21 10:15:51 1997
From: Doreene Linzell - dlinzell at worldnet.att.net


Tweeters,

I found Michael Price's comment very interesting about the yellow bill
of a loon being diagnostic. Here in Ohio we have a "raging
controversy" about a loon that came our way last spring. The bird did
have a yellow bill. But, many of the other features did not match
with a yellow-billed loon. Photographs were taken and placed on the
Internet for people to critique. Some experts (that actually saw the
bird) said that it was definitely not a YELO. Others felt that it
was. There was even talk that the bird might be a hybrid Common
Loon/Yellow-billed Loon. My question is since you folks have more
experience with both of these species, have you ever seen a hybrid of
these two species?

Doreene Linzell
Columbus, Ohio