Tweeters,

Arctic Loons are cool! Thanks to Vic Nelson for finding this bird and Brad
Waggoner for locating it today for us.

Jessie Barry and I arrived at Point-No-Point just as Brad was leaving the
point to head toward the Store (located just west of the Point) having
spotted the bird. We followed Brad and after a few tense minutes of
scanning from the parking lot of the store we spotted the bird. We got
distant, but identifiable views looking toward the point. The bird was
diving constantly and was often lost from view. Eventually, Brad had to
move on and Jessie and I moved back to Point-no-point for closer views. We
had the loon in view off and on for an hour from 5:30-6:30 when we left to
catch the ferry. I got some of the poorest, but still probably
identifiable, digiscoped video of the bird right next to a Pacific Loon.
Back in the U-district I broke into a spontaneous song of victory until
Jessie informed me that I was embarrassing myself, my friends, the human
race, Arctic Loons, and music itself. I stopped.

Description:
A subtle but striking bird. It gave be the initial impression of being much
larger than Pacific Loon, however after watching it right next to a Pacific
for an hour it was clear that the size difference was fairly slight. The
elegant, arched-neck look of Pacific Loon was even more apparent on the
Arctic as it held its neck higher and enhanced the elegant look by holding
its bill slightly upturned. The bill was ~10-15% longer than the Pacific it
was right next to and substantially deeper at the base. It had a short,
steep forehead and flat crown falling away into a long, smoothly rounded
nape. With the throat facing directly into the sun it was clear that the
bird had no trace of a chinstrap. It appeared to be a first-cycle
individual with fairly extensive wear and fading on the nape and back so it
is a bit paler than average for Arctic Loon, slightly paler than the adult
Pacific it was next to. The face and neck were clean white, creating a
sharp line of contrast between the dark crown and nape. The face appeared
slightly cleaner than even Pacific Loon. The white flank patch was beyond
obvious, flashing as the bird rose on small swells. Bright white and about
the size of a fist it was clearly visible the entire time the bird was in
view. The roughly triangular patch was located on rear flanks, just forward
of the tail. It was particularly noticeable when the bird was swimming
directly away, like the bird had taillights. It dove by stretching out its
neck and doing an awkward face-plant, usually kicking up a splash of water
as it submerged. It would also often shake its tail rigorously. I'm not
sure why it did this; I've never seen any loon do this so frequently. In
all, a spectacular bird! Go see it!

Thanks again to Vic and Brad.

Cameron Cox
Seattle, WA
Cameron_cox at hotmail.com

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