On Sunday, Nov. 2, 1997, a first winter plumage PACIFIC LOON was
observed diving in river below Dworshak Dam, Clearwater Co., Idaho. This is
an unusual sighting this far unland. It was observed several times between
1400 and 1500 PST. Other birds in the area included several BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEES and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS. We didn't find any birds on the
reservoir behind the dam.
To get to the location, go to Orofino, Idaho. Follow the signs to
the town of Ahsahka and Dworshak Dam. When you get to the town of Ahsahka,
there is a sign directing you to the Dworshak Dam Powerhouse (not the
visitor center, fish hatchery or state park but the powerhouse). About 0.8
miles up this road, there is a pull out on the river (east) side of the road
and an outhouse on the opposite side of the road. The loon was diving in
the river below the pull out. There were several anglers on the bank and
the loon was diving in the area they were fishing. The road to the
powerhouse is not labelled but can be seen on page 58 of the DeLorme Idaho
Atlas, section C-3 at the very bottom of the page.
How did I identify the loon? First, the bird was very heavy bodied,
with a short stout neck, and it was diving constantly. This told me it was
a loon. It was in winter plumage with a black back, lightly speckled with
white, and a white and gray head. The bill appeared relatively thin
compared to the more likely Common Loon and it was held horizontally,
eliminating the Red-throated Loon and silvery gray, not yellow, probably
eliminating the Yellow-billed Loon. The head pattern was definitely that of
a winter plumage Pacific Loon: sharp division between the white of the
throat and the gray of the head and nape. The line diving these colors was
straight; there was no indentation of white and gray as is often the case
with the Common Loon. The one thing that bugged me was it lacked a
"necklace" (the thin, dark gray line running under the chin usually found on
winter-plumage adult Pacific Loons) I consulted both Peterson's Western
Birds and NG Field Guide and both report that some Pacific Loon,
particularly immatures, lack the "necklace". The nape was light gray, much
lighter than the back and lighter than the sides of the neck bordering the
white. The eye was surrounded above by dark gray and the lores were dark
gray. When I arrived home, I consulted Kenn Kaufman's Guide to Advanced
Birding and confirmed that this bird was a Pacific Loon in first winter
plumage. Kaufman writes that first winter birds often show a bit of white
speckling on the back and lack the necklace but the face pattern is still
the same and is definitely consistent with the Pacific Loon. I didn't try
to eliminate the much less likely Arctic Loon because a) the field marks to
differentiate these two, particularly in winter plumage, are unknown to me
and b) Pacific Loons are much more likely anywhere in Idaho (North America
as a whole?) than the Arctic Loon.
For those interesting in fishing, one woman was proudly showing off
the steelhead she had just caught in the same stretch of river. Everyone
else was catching rainbow trouts.

Deb Beutler
Department of Zoology
P.O. Box 644236
Washington State Univerisity
Pullman, Whitman Co., WA
dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu