To respond to Stuart MacKay's posting, our Pacific Loon is a separate
species from your Arctic Loon; the two overlap as breeding species in far
western Alaska and are really quite distinct. I finally saw an Arctic Loon
in Chukotka this summer, along with a lot of Pacifics, and the big white
flank patch of the former made it stand out like a supernova (well, perhaps
I exaggerate....).

There are lots of older field guides that still list Pacific Loon as Arctic
Loon, and I suspect there will be years of transition before this confusion
is put to bed.

Nevertheless, Arctic Loon has turned up as a vagrant in California and
could do so in this region. The white flank patch--reminiscent of a Pelagic
Cormorant's breeding plumage--really should allow identification in any
plumage, but please try to get a photo if you find one; you know how
critical bird-record committees are.

There's a new book on Russian birds by Algirdas Knystautas that has photos
of both Arctic and Pacific in breeding plumage, shows the differences well.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416