[obol] 1-5-08 Brownsmead Arctic Loon (ARLO), YES, Plus Word of Caution

[Kathy Andrich]

Hi Tweeters and OBOL,

Five of us Tweeters, John Puschock, Diane
Yorgason-Quinn, Susan McNeill, Etta Cosey and myself
had a sucessful run for the ARLO in Oregon.  A life
bird for all but John who has seen it in Alaska.  It
was first spotted on the north end of the Barendse
Bridge and we followed it up the little short road to
the right (east) side of the bridge until we hit a
gate.  The loon left shortly thereafter and as were
getting ready to back out of this little road a man
came out asking us to leave right away as we were on
private property and that he had called the sheriff. 
We were in the general area quite awhile after that
and we never noticed the sheriff.  But several of us
couldn't help but notice he had on a holster and
pistol.  So going down there is not recommended though
there were signs (many tire tracks) others have driven
down to this gate. The road is not posted to stay out.

We later saw the loon in the slough off of Pentilla Rd
on the other side of the bridge and got a lot of very
satisfying looks at this bird as it was actively
feeding and preening.  Several Red-throated Loons in
the area and we saw one Common.  The focus was the
ARLO but we did see one Bonaparte's Gull, a Pileated
Woodpecker and some Meadowlarks in the area as well as
the reported Western Grebes (we missed the Clark's but
many of the grebes were sleeping), and Horned Grebes. 
The White-tailed Kite failed to make an appearance.

Good trip and good company.

A la Jay Withgott, our weather related list of events
included:
Rain mixed with snow=slush on I-5
Rainbow
Thunder
Lightning
Hail
Sunshine with some blue sky
More rain and wind.

The lack of other birders was notable, maybe everyone
has seen it already.  

A great map of the Arctic Loon area is at:
http://www.westerngrebe.com/arlo/

Cheers,

Kathy
Roosting in Kent, near Lake Meridian
(chukarbird at yahoo dot com)


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