Ileen dug up this tidbit of Bill's:

snip..
>There is a pass between the northern end of Whidbey Island and Fidalgo
>>Island called Deception Pass. The tidal current flows through this pass
>>at a very high rate of speed. (Yesterday the peak ebb current was >7
>>knots.) On the ebb tide loons from Puget Sound fly into the Pass, land on
>>the water, and dive for fish as they are being swept into the Sound. They
>>do not seem to have to dive very long before they come up with a fish
>>which they bring to the surface to eat. As they are feeding the current
>>sweeps them west out of sight. Then more loons (presumably some are the
>>same birds seen earlier) fly into the Pass and the process is repeated.
snip...

The particular process of birds frequenting tide rips is widespread. When I
was posted to Cape St. James on the south end of the Queen Charlotte Islands,
this was a regular occurrence with the gulls. The archipelago is pinched off
into a series of small islands at its south end and the tide rips through the
various passes with great abandon, up to 12 knots on big tides. The gulls
would use this as their opportunity to "play", plonking themselves down at
the start of the rip, shooting through, and then wheeling back to do it all
again. This went on for the life of the rip, usually about 30-40 minutes.
There was no evidence of them feeding during this time, and I cannot recall
the local cormorants, murres, puffins and auklets ever partaking. I'll have
to check my notes. However, the Steller's Sea Lions sure loved it, often
popping up from below to bonk a gull off its spot.

Jack

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Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca