This bird was initially observed swimming alone, quite a ways offshore, but still within decent viewing range.  I immediately took a fancy to it because it seemed too dark on the upperparts, and a bit petite to be a Common Loon.  I switched to Ben Warner’s Swarovski, and began comparing it to a Common Loon to its left (though not in the same field of view), and confirmed these suspicions.  At this time, and for the next hour of observation, approximately, the bird swam straight north, with it’s back toward us, never turning to face us head-on or diving even once.  Occasionally, a Common Loon came into the scope view with it, and at one point, it was sandwiched between two Commons.  In these instances, the bird was noticeably smaller than the Commons, with a bill that seemed to be more slender, as well.  Though the lighting and angle made it difficult to judge the bill’s proportions 100% accurately, it did not appear to be as thick-based and massive
 as that of every Common within view.  The fact this that bird was smaller overall with a blacker back than any Common Loon present was mutually agreed upon by all who were watching.  The head also appeared to be nicely rounded at most angles, though occasionally I would catch a hint of a ‘squared-off look’ on the rear crown and couldn’t convince myself that it was as evenly rounded as it should have been.  The upperparts were quite dark, including the flanks, and unbarred, in the manner of a nonbreeding adult.  The most problematic part of the observation was the coloration of the head and neck.  As mentioned earlier, the bird swam away from us throughout the observation, so definitive views of the face and side of the neck were hard to come by.  However, eventually, we pieced together enough brief views and glimpses to question whether the pattern of the head/neck were correct for Pacific.  The head/neck were solid dark, nearly approaching the
 upperparts coloration, but the dark seemed to extend below the eye and quite far forward on the neck, shading from dark to dusky - and not really showing the stark demarcation between light and dark that Pacific Loon should exhibit.  Granted the bird would rarely turn its head at any sort of sharp angle toward us, but when it did, it showed practically no white on the auriculars or throat from our angle - appearing as a nearly dark-headed bird.  Again, lighting and bad angle may have been the only factors to account for this strange look, but the bird continued to drift further north on the lake as light expired.  For lack of time, I will just state that Red-throated was safely and easily eliminated.

All in all, a very interesting bird, and quite possibly the same that Paula et al observed earlier under much better conditions.  Hopefully, it sticks in the area tomorrow, so others will have the chance to study it, at closer range and in better light.

Good birding -
Gabe Leidy
Cleveland




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