I just recieved an email inquiring more information about the loon I saw in Two Harbors on February 22nd to confirm species identification.
When I saw the loon I was absolutely thrilled because I was thinking it could be a Yellow-billed. I took time (30 minutes) to follow it and observe it from the dike and the shore because it was being VERY active in its feeding. I was able to see it well enough to see a striped collar on its neck. The lighting wasn't the best but the bill looked more gray than yellow. It looked to be the same size as a Common Loon though of course size can always be decieving. The bird was an adult in non-breeding plumage. To me the most distinguishing characteristic was the collar which had a pattern consistant with a Common Loon. I would have absolutely loved for this bird to be a Yellow-billed which is one of my most wanted birds but I do believe that it was an out of season Common Loon. If anyone has any further questions feel free to email me. Good birding, Jason Caddy Minneapolis j.ca...@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Contacts: Organize your contact list. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/marcusatmicrosoft.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!503D1D86EBB2B53C!2285.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_UGC_Contacts_032009 ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
