I can't tell from the photos whether it's a juvenile or not (just
viewing the pix on the small screen on my phone) but it's definitely a
Pacific Loon. Face & neck pattern are diagnostic. Congrats on a great
find.
Kenn Kaufman
Oak Harbor, OH

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 31, 2010, at 10:29 PM, Rick Asamoto
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Allan Claybon and I found a small loon among a few Common Loons in
> the bay near Harveysburg Rd at Caesar Creek State Park this
> afternoon. From our vantage point we could not get good looks at the
> bird as we were looking into the sun. After Allan left I parked in a
> different spot (dirt parking area just past the last house on
> Harveysburg) and walked the path down to the water. From there the
> afternoon sun was behind me and I had much better views of the bird.
>
> I believe the bird was a juvenile Pacific Loon. The head and neck
> were lighter than the back, the neck was pale on the nape and was
> darker near the front. I never saw any white along the flanks, there
> were some flecks of paler feathers on the back. I looked for a chin
> strap, and believe I had good enough views to see one, if present.
> but did not. The forehead appeared angled somewhere between a Red-
> throated and Common.
>
> Some composite images from heavily cropped photos are here:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/rasamoto/
>
> Rick Asamoto
> Miamisburg
>
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