Subject: [Tweeters] loon
Date: May 23 09:00:26 2005
From: Connie Sidles - csidles at isomedia.com


Hey tweets, Several of you have taken a look at the loon photos we posted,
and the consensus is that this is a Red-throated Loon. Looking at the photos
again with new eyes, as though the photos were all I had to go by, I can see
why the consensus says Red-throated.

Let me just say that I thought about Red-throated Loon, too. In fact, of
course, that was my first thought. As my husband says, "When you hear
hoofbeats, think horse, not zebra." But the white flank patch on this loon
was very distinct and "hard-edged," much more so than I've seen on
Red-throated Loons, where the white usually seems more diffuse to me.

Some tweeters have commented that the nape shows too much contrast with the
back. But as for the pale nape, the color seemed to me to be alternate
plumage, not winter plumage. The color (which is not reliable on our photos)
was pale gray, much lighter than the winter brown/gray that Red-throated
Loons sport. In fact, I got such a good look at this feature that it is one
of the reasons why I discarded Red-throated Loon as a candidate: there was
no sign of black/white stippling.

The bill in the pictures bothers me, too. The bill shows up differently on
different pictures - sometimes looking straighter and thicker and sometimes
looking more upcurved. The view through my binoculars was difficult, as
conditions were so rugged (wind on shore, high waves at sea), but my overall
impression was that the bill was heavier and straighter than a Red-throated
Loon's would be, though this was hard to see.

It is faintly possible that we were photographing two different birds. The
earliest picture we took was taken when we first saw the bird, and this is
when I saw the flank patch and the gray nape. We then packed up all our gear
and walked for about 10 minutes to set up in another place. During that
time, we lost the bird. When we found it again, it was in shallower water.

Given the difficulties, I will not insist we saw such an important bird,
since the evidence we show leans more toward Red-throated Loon. I am pretty
careful about my IDs though, and I will always wonder. At the very least, I
can use this experience to convince my husband that we really need to buy
the digital camera/scope that he saw showcased in Japan and which does not
seem to be available in the US yet. So what if we have to mortgage our
house? - Connie