Got this news to pass along from Bruce Glick. Apple Valley Lake is at page 59, A-7 in the Delorme Atlas. Any loon at this time of year is unusual and worth scrutiny. Bruce is a very experienced observer, but invites all to have another look at this strange one. If you find it, let us know what you think. Bill Whan Columbus Last Saturday, Leroy E. Yoder had a loon at Apple Valley Lake. He said it looked a bit strange but it was far out in the lake. I went down on Tuesday and after about an hour and 20 miles, also found the loon. It did look "funny". After watching it through the scope for quite awhile, I decided it must either have a bill that has grown abnormally or perhaps is missing part of the bill. It seemed to curve up and looked abnormal. The rest of the plumage seemed to be Common Loon and size is always so hard to tell. If anything it looked small to me. I'm not on Ohio birds at the moment but maybe you could alert folks to this bird and check it out. It did fly around for about 5 minutes and then landed again so it flies normally. It can be hard to find in that very large lake with so many small inlets. Good birding, Bruce ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]