Subject: ARCTIC LOON - Wanapum Dam - 4 Loon species
Date: Dec 29 20:58:18 2002
From: Scott R - scray at wolfenet.com


My family and I left foggy Yakima Saturday afternoon and ventured over to
Wanapum Dam hoping for spotting scope conditions near Vantage. It was
snowing from Manastash Ridge to Ryegrass Pass, but raining along the
Columbia River. It rained all afternoon, making birding more difficult.
But the air was clear along the river.

The ARCTIC LOON, first reported by Scott Downes on 12/26/02, was found again
at mid channel at the north end of the north island south of the dam. The
bird drifted slowly downstream to the south end of the first island near
where seven AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS rested with two DOUBLE-CRESTED
CORMORANTS. It stayed there for about a half hour, so I made my way down to
the water's edge to try for better photos. The loon had flown back to the
north end of the island by the time I got to the shore. However, several
photos taken from the road through the scope turned out well enough to ID.
The loon was watched for over 1.5 hours, and at no time was it observed to
be diving/foraging. All of the other loons dived/foraged actively through
the period.

There were a half dozen COMMON LOONS in the mile stretch between the islands
and the dam. The YELLOW-BILLED LOON reported earlier and seen off and on
for several weeks was seen a few hundred feet off the dam face working the
western edge of the turbulent water with a couple of Commons. At the far
eastern edge of this pool, near the moored service boat, foraged a PACIFIC
LOON working alone. This is probably the same bird reported earlier. I
could not find it later in the day.

There were two VARIED THRUSHES in the pines in the visitor center parking
lot along the east face of the dam.

Scott


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" Scott Ray "
" Moxee, WA "
" scray at wolfenet.com "
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