Dear Tweeters,

I would be interested in getting a detailed description from Eric on the
white cormorant he saw at Commencement Bay in Tacoma, WA. There has been a
white Common Loon in residence primarily on the Hylebos Creek side of the
bay throughout the winter. The bird has a pale yellow bill, dark eye, pale
pinkish feet, a faint buffy neck band and some pale buff markings on the
primaries and tail.

It would be an amazing coincidence to have two large albinistic birds on the
same patch of water. Maybe it has to do with all those EPA Superfund site
bottom fish.


>I am an amateur birder living in Seattle. On June 20th, in the Brown's
Point area, just north of >Commencement Bay, I watched for over an hour an
albino cormorant feeding in a sheltered >stretch. I don't know the
species, however the sighting was unambiguous as from my vantage >point I
could watch its white form fly underwater and I was able to get a few
pictures of the >individual fairly close on the surface. Would this
constitute a rare sighting, an albino surviving >to adult or sub-adulthood?
And is it likely the same individual would return to the same >feeding
grounds?
>Sincerely, Eric Noah

Good Birding,


Marcus Roening Tacoma,WA
MDR51044 at GlaxoWellcome.com