Date: 1/11/26 4:23 pm From: Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Red-throated Loons
Like Neil, I have watched this many times, and I have seen nothing like it anywhere else. Small numbers of Red-throated Loons are all over the coastal waters of Washington, but nothing like this. And it is surprising that other loons, which presumably eat these same fish, are a minimal part of this phenomenon.
Point Wilson has always been a good place to see seabirds flying upcurrent and drifting downcurrent, feeding as they go, then repeating the process. Even grebes do this there, and we don’t often think of grebes flying around much.
Dennis Paulson
Seattle
> On Jan 11, 2026, at 11:08 AM, Neil Zimmerman via Tweeters <tweeters...> wrote:
>
> I have been leading Birds Connect Seattle field trips to Deception Pass SP for years. Yesterday, I and my friend Roniq led a trip to the park. Off of West Beach, we saw 5-600 RTLOs. Smelt use the pass during the winter in large numbers and loons with other birds gather to feed. We were there right after high tide and there was a constant stream of birds. They fly up against the current and feed in the water as they ride the current back to the west then they fly back and do it again. When they aren’t feeding, the surface of the water to the west is covered by the loons. Every year I am amazed by the huge number of RTLOs. I have read that places back east have numbers that can reach over a hundred thousand. There may be other places in WA where this happens. I am sure if there is, someone on Tweeters knows about.
> Definitely a spectacle to see.
> Neil Zimmerman,
> Brier, WA
>
> Sent from my iPad
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