I tried to make a big day of Saturday by searching for both the Arctic Loon
and the Hawk Owl; duties have kept me confined to Olympia while all the
reports have been coming in. I got to the Water St. location [thanks to
several folks for directions] around 8 a.m. and started to focus on various
loons waaaay far out. I finally identified the Arctic Loon by its whiter
throat in contrast to what seemed to me like darker dorsal regions of the
neck, by a bit of white on the flanks that showed occasionally, and by its
tendency to hold its bill somewhat upward, as others have noted. At one
point, it swam in much closer and afforded a better view, but when it was
mixed in with the Pacifics at a distance, it was sometimes hard to pick out,
even with my fine scope.

After viewing the loons for about an hour, I headed north to find the owl
and got there just after noon. A fellow living in one of the houses said it
had been seen recently and that it was okay to walk back into the area, but
the bird never appeared. A couple who referred to Tweeters joined me for a
while [sorry, I didn't get your names], and I also drove around the area and
looked at many trees, but no luck. Has anyone seen it in the last few days?
Well, at least I got the loon.

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College 360-867-6755
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu

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