Hi tweets,

Michael Price wrote:

>Actually, it's Michael... '-)

Sorry about that, I get picky about that sort of thing too sometimes.

>In a previous post I asked if you can give us more details of the bird,
>Michael? For example, yours was an unaided-eye observation. At what
>distance? In what visibility? What was the bird doing?

Distance: About 10-15 yards and at eye level
Visibility: Well it was cloudy, but there wasn't any fog so I could see
it pretty well. I didn't get a very long look though, about 6
or 7 seconds, before it dove and the ferry passed the spot.
I did notice that there seemed to be more whit on the sides of the head
than on the nearby Common Loons, but it was brownish gray extending from
the top of the head down the back of the neck, and the bulk of the
visible body. I don't recall seeing much in the way of a tail, the body
just sloped down to the water, sort of like on a lot of the grebes. The
white extended from the face, down the sides of the neck and onto the
front of the body, and breast area. I noticed what appeared to be a
little white on the back. I don't know if this was feather outlines or
shafts, or maybe a little of both. I just didn't see it all that long to
take it in.

I can't say definatively that it was a loon, but I can say that the shape
was a lot like that of the Common Loons which I saw many of on the trip.
Also, on most cormorants I have noticed a slight downward hook on the
bill, even when they are in flight. I didn't see that on this bird. The
neck also seemed like it was thicker than a cormorant's and the head
didn't appear nearly as "petite" as I normally think of for a cormorant,
but I can't say for sure without comparing the two birds side by side.

About the orange at the base of the bill, I didn't see any, but that
doesn't mean that there wasn't any there. Like I said it was 10-15 yards
away so I could have missed something.

Sorry for the ambiguity, this probably doesn't help much, but it is about
the best I can do.

Thanks for your help.

Michael Dossett
Shoreline, Washington
mpdossett at Juno.com