I, too, would be very happy if someone with more experience than me would
definitively identify the Priest Rapids loon. However, I would like to
share some excerpts from the notes and drawings I made while watching the
loon on 4 February. I watched it at 60X under good light conditions.

When I first saw the bird, a Common Loon was close by. The AL was
significantly smaller and more compact (the body not as long relative to
head and neck) than the CL, but not THAT much smaller, larger than I would
expect a Pacific Loon to be. The bill was significantly smaller than in
the CL, but again, maybe bigger than I would expect for PL. The bill
seemed to be held straight, not obviously uptilted. The head was more
rounded than in the CL, but there was a small but pronounced "bump" on the
somewhat steep forehead.

The back, hindneck and head of the bird were dark blackish, with little
contrast between back and hindneck obvious except when the bird bent to
preen. Then, the nape and hindneck looked grayer than the back. When the
bird lifted its tail high out of the water or rolled on its side to preen,
the tail feathers were black against the white coverts but I didn't see a
vent strap. There was an obvious long white line or patch running along the
flanks, though it didn't seem to flare obviously towards the rear. The
head and neck showed very contrasty coloration. The head was solid dark to
eye level, with the area before the eye being darkest. The eye did not
stand out from the dark of the head at all; there was no white around it of
any kind. The divide between the dark of the head and hindneck and the
white of throat and cheek was clean, with no smudginess. The white of the
cheek made a perfect "C" shape, the auriculars being completely white. No
chin strap was visible. When the bird lifted a foot out of the water, the
toes were black with dark pink lobes.

Comments?

Rachel Lawson
rachellawson at uswest.net
206 282-5593