This message was passed along to me from a traveling birder:
“…
I saw an unusual bird yesterday morning I'm guessing around mid morning
somewhere between Biggs Junction and Arlington.
I am a truck driver and as I was driving east on I-84, I saw a bird flying
east a little higher up along the south side of the Columbia River/freeway. I
got a really good look as I drove by. It was a pelagic bird that was uniformly
dark brown all over, had a five foot wingspan, a fairly long tail, a heavy
stout bill that came down to a point. The wings at the elbow came back at a
fairly Sharp angle from the rest of the wing and had pointed wing tips. The
body looked like a long torpedo shape….”
Asked the reporter if I can pass on more info, but I thought I’d get this much
out there in case any OBOL birder was in the area. Keep an eye out along that
reach of the Columbia or the refuges near Pendleton and Hermiston.
Paul Sullivan
