Hi Tweets,

Mary Schlarbaum writes:

>We found a loon in the middle of the road.
>To my surprise, it was alive!!! Apparently it was only stunned (even after
>I saw another car go over it and flip it in the air!).

According to some rehab folks I've talked to, finding injured migrant loons
on wet roadways is a regular part of loon migration, whether north- or
southbound, a a fractured or bruised sternum the frequent injury (when not
run over twice)--the loons mistake wet roadway for a watercourse and land.
Ouch. No question of take-off, of course.

>The Red-throated Loon is fairly common in winter and fall
>& spring migration along the coast and winter in areas like Gray's Harbor and
>Puget Sound. Inland records occur but not terribly often west of the Cascades
>and decidedly rare east. The Red-throated Loon usually frequents areas of
>coastal marine influence in Washington.

This is interesting timing, being about at least 3 weeks-1 month early for a
Red-throated Loon to be heading inland from the ocean. I'd expect to see
staging in estuaries and bays first, but English Bay and the mouths of the
Fraser River where one normally sees such staging have not had any sort of
build-up yet, English Bay to now holding its usual wintering numbers of 15-20.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)