Tweeters,

Saturday morning, Jan. 22, Andy Stepniewski and I found a very interesting
Arctic/Pacific-type loon about four or five miles north of the Priest Rapids
Dam in Grant County, page 52 in the DeLorme atlas.

The loon had many charactistics of an Arctic Loon but we were viewing it
from quite a distance and it keep moving away from us during the twenty or
so minutes we were looking at it. We are hoping someone might be interested
in searching for this bird.

Here is what we saw:

* head - very uptilted posture similar to a Red-throated Loon; very blocky
head shape; distinct peak at the forehead; uniformly dark head and back of
neck; chin, throat and front of neck white with no chin strap;

* body - back uniformly dark; sides at waterline showed extensive white
though the bird did not show the high white flank patch typical of an Arctic
Loon. The white on the flank did not stand out as being higher than the
rest of the white on the sides. While we were observing it, it was diving
repeatedly which may have affected the appearance of the white on the sides
and flanks.

We later saw two Pacific Loons which had a much more level bill posture,
rounder head shape, definate chin strap, and no white showing on the sides
at the waterline. They looked entirely different from the one described above.

The water north of Priest Rapids Dam is visible from many spots on the east
side of the river. From Desert Aire go north on the road next to the river.
Road 26 SW goes west towards the water and a boat ramp, as shown in the
atlas. We saw the loon in the area to the west and north of the boat ramp.
If coming from the north, follow Hwy 243 south to Road 26 SW and turn west.
Just to the north of this area is the Priest Rapids Wildlife Area which has
some good birding.

The April 1997 issue of "Birding" magazine has a very good article on Arctic
and Pacific Loons.

Thanks,

Denny Granstrand



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