Arctic Loon, Gavia Arctica
Sketches
Upon first seeing the Arctic Loon swimming about, my immediate thoughts were large neck, large bill and a white patch on the flank into the rump area. [This initial impression has been important to me in bird identification as it often gives clues when I am seeing a different bird within a Genus or Family.]
Let me define what this initial impression meant to me:
* Large neck – When viewing the Arctic Loon straight on, meaning it was facing toward me, the neck seemed solid white. It seemed long and bulky. When seeing the neck from this view, it did not have any dark feathers showing to the side of the neck or dark feathers that would otherwise be the fringe of the nape. It was easy to see the throat, as the
Arctic Loon’s head was pointed upward rather than horizontally out. The throat did not have any demarcation or chin strap, which gave the neck an even longer looking appearance. All of this added up to a long looking neck that was solid white from the front.
* Large bill – The bill appeared thicker and longer than what I expected or had seen on Loons previously. I do not mean the bill was misshapen or exceptionally large. But rather proportionately for its entire body the bill seemed larger than on other loons I have observed [* See past observations below.] The bill was a darker, almost blue-black color, without any yellow at all.
* White patch on the flank – There was clearly visible a white flank patch which extended up toward or into the rump. When viewing from the side, if one can imagine a horizontal line from the wing attachment going toward the tail of the
Arctic Loon, this white flank patch extended above this imaginary horizontal line.
[See Figure 1.]
I watched the Arctic Loon from 3:15 to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday January 15, 2008. The weather was nice, bright sunshine, little wind and temperatures I guess at or above 60F. During my observation the sun was almost directly behind me. The
Arctic Loon was almost always floating to my right when not diving. It did not sleep or spend any long periods of time preening. It did dive three times for short durations during my observance. Virtually all of my observations were looking at the right side or several [5-7] straight-on head shot [front] views.
During my observation several things were apparent. First, the white flank patch was always available to be seen. As the
Arctic Loon floated there was never a time that the white flank patch disappeared or was not able to be seen. It was obviously prominent. Secondly, I estimate that 60% to 70% of the time, when appropriate, the head of the
Arctic Loon was pointed or slanted upward. This is a character I have not observed with any previous Loon. Thirdly, the throat was very clean and most prominent. There was no demarcation or evidence of a chin strap. Fourth there was a lot of white on the front including on the breast. White was prominent on the side of the breast to at least 2 inches above the water line. Dark feathers were intermingled in the side area of the breast at this 2-inch level above the water reference, which extended toward the front, but was not visible from a straight-on view.
On two occasions, from a side view, the head seemed rather flat on top, with a bump on the front part of the head above the eyes. I never got the impression the head was rounded.
My field notes had no notations regarding the eye, its placement or any coloration around or above the eye. My guess is, but unconfirmed by notes, the eye was dark on the dark part of the head. Additionally I no notations about a vent strap, primarily due to the
Arctic Loon never rolling when I was viewing it.
Once during my observation a boater in the center of the lake headed in the direction of the
Arctic Loon at a high rate of speed. After first hoping the boater would not take out all of the waterfowl in the area, I also thought if the
Arctic Loon was spooked and took flight I might see additional fields marks. So I switched to my binoculars and alternately kept viewing the
Arctic Loon and the boat so as to tell from a depth perception if the boat trajectory was in front of, on top of or behind the
Arctic Loon, from my view. Fortunately the boat passed by some 50-100 yards or more behind the
Arctic Loon. It did not take flight, but did flap its wings 3-5 times. During this observance two things caught my attention. [See Figure 2.] First, while the wings were raised, it was very apparent the flank patch was a separate and distinct feature both in color and design. The flank patch color seemed to be a brighter or whiter color than the surrounding white body feathers. Regards the size, the flank patch was more rounded and fatter at the bottom and slanted up to the rump where the top of the patch was rectangular looking. Certainly I am not stating that smooth lines defined this shape, but as nearly as I can describe it, think of a grapefruit with a small rectangle affixed on the top left as you look at it. That would be the design slanting from the side of the body toward the rump. Secondly, as I could notice and still with binoculars, there appeared to be a very thin line of dark feathers on the body under the wings. On the body, going from front to back, and with the right wing raised, the dark line was quite prominent under the front of the wing, it flared down the body a little under the middle portion of the wing, and was very faint to non existent near the back of the wing.
Once during my observing the Arctic Loon nearly straight on there was a reddish to deep orange vertical line on the right side of the
Arctic Loon’s neck. [See Figure 3.] This line extended about one-third to one-half the length of the neck. This happened only once during the 5-7 straight-on observations I had. This red line was at the very edge of where the white feathers seemed to end on the side of the neck. Having seen the
Arctic Loon many times from the side, I knew intuitively there was no red line on the side of the neck. Since the sun was directly behind me and it was late in the day, I surmised this was a reflection off something, but off what I had no idea. This remains a mystery. [The notes within this bracket were not part of my original field notes. They were added after the recent 23 January Texbirds post by Matt White. Matt White being the person who originally spotted and posted the
Arctic Loon sighting. In this recent email, Matt among other things said, “The bird sports a brownish nape, with a dark line on the border between the nape and the throat.” It is the authors guess the red line I saw was the sun reflecting off this “dark line on the border between the nape and the throat” which Matt was able to see from his vantage point and document.]
Clearly I am not a Loon expert. If this is not an Arctic Loon, it missed a very good opportunity to be, as many characters point that direction.
Lamont Brown
Denton, Texas
