Tweets and Kristi,
I rise to disagree that yellow bills mean Yellow-billed Loon . Here on
the Olympic Peninsula 90% (a guess) of the winter loons with yellow bills are
Commons. The bill is only conclusive at very close range. Fortunately there
are a number of other good field marks.
I quote Kaufman's ADVANCED BIRDING (which I highly reccommend). p. 26
"Paleness of the bill is not a good field mark: many winter Commons
(especially juveniles) have mostly pale bills; most winter Yellow-billeds
have at least some duskiness near the base of the bill; and some juvenile
Yellow-billeds during their first autumn can have mostly dark bills that
lighten gradually as the season progresses. However, the pale culmen (upper
ridge of the upper mandible) is diagnostic for Yellow-billed. In Common Loon
the culmen is dark to the tip, or very near the the tip, but in Yellow-billed
the culmen is pale for at least the outer half, usually the outer two thirds,
with only the basal section dark. A close view or careful study is necessary
to verify this mark, because the dark culmen area in a Common tends to become
very narrow toward the tip of the bill and may be hard to see against a
background of dark water."
I agree that Yellow-billed Loons can occur in your area. There was one I
know at Blue Lake in December of '95 and probably until freezeup and I
suspect there have been a number of others but my AMERICAN BIRDS are
scattered around the house.
Bob Norton
Joyce, WA