We were with our Vancouver Audubon group at Capes Mears this
weekend. My husband spotted 3 loons. At first glance he didn't
even think the 2 were loons because of the amount of white on
them. He was looking for a Pacfic loons and said these were not
common loons. So we went up in the lighthouse to get a better
angle (hedge in the way). One was definately a Pacific loon
starting to molt. It had the dark neck patch with the back of
the head a little lighter than it's back. The dark sides went
down to a dirty looking white before the water line. The heads
and bills of all three were pointed straight out like a common
loon not up like the Red-necked. All three seemed to be sitting
out of the water quit a bit. They were not diving, just
floating. The other two were either immature or in full winter
molt. I said they could be Arctic loons and showed him the
sketch in our NG guide that I'd done from the BIRDING, Feb.88
article showing the white on the underside and rear flank of
the Arctic loon compared to the Pacific and the other loons.
These two also had the very clean white necks with the sharp
line between the white and dark head. They were also slightly
lighter on the back of the head than on their backs. They
seemed just a little larger than the other one (Pacific loon).
With this information in mind we came home to look at the
article in BIRDING and other info. We are convinced that they
were Arctic loons. The man at Oregon Field Ornith. (name?)
said they had suspected them to be along the coast during
migration but no one had ever seen them. We did not realize
they were that rare. I could not get a photo because of the
hedge. We went for the scope but they drifted around the
edge of the clift and the fog bank closed in tight. If anyone
has any info that could help convince us either way in
identification, it would be appreciated.
P.S. I now see another report from last week of an Arctic loon
out of Westport, WA but no replies on it.

Sherry Hagen
Vancouver, WA
sxwb78a at prodigy.com