I spent seven hours today looking for the Arctic Loon and the Yellow-billed
Loon at Priest Rapids. I got a fairly incredible look at the ARLO at 12:50
p.m. It was about 200 yards north of the Priest Rapids Dam and about 150
yards from where I was standing on the east side of the river just north of
the dam. I tried to take a few photos through my spotting scope but they
didn't turn out. Unfortunately I was by myself with no one to share the
excitement of the sighting with. I could not find the YBLO.

>From 150 yards the ARLO is a very distinctive bird. In the vicinity were at
least ten Common Loons with which to compare it. The bill was much slimmer,
shorter and tilted up at about 15-20 degrees (I checked it with the angle
finder I have in my truck); the top of the head, nape, back of the neck and
back were dark brown; throat, cheeks, ear coverts, front of neck and front
of breast to the waterline were white. The demarcation between white and
dark brown on the head and neck was absolute. There was no mottling or
fading of any kind. The white on the sides of the face (cheeks and ear
coverts) extended well back toward the nape and gave the face a very clean look.

The flaring flank patch was quite apparent and the sides at the waterline
had white extending close to an inch above the waterline at times but that
varied slightly with each time to bird came up from a dive.

So, the Arctic Loon is still there. There might still be time for someone
to get a photograph.

Denny Granstrand

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* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* osprey at nwinfo.net *
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