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 > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > 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] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]