| Common Loon Identification Tips |
| (Credit: U. S. Geological Survey) |
| General
Information - Sexes similar - Large diving bird with long body that rides low in the water - Large bill is straight, tapers to a point, and is held horizontally - Feet set far back on body, and trail behind body in flight - Upperwings wholly dark in flight Adult alternate - Black bill - Black head - Black neck with white markings - White chest and belly - Black back with white checkering and spotting Adult basic - Pale gray bill - Gray-brown cap, forehead, nape, hindneck and back - White face, eye ring, chin, throat, foreneck and belly - Jagged border between white foreneck and dark hindneck Immature - Like basic-plumaged adult but often with paler bill and white scalloping on back Similar species Cormorants have hooked bills. Western, Clark's and Red-necked Grebes have thinner bills marked with yellow and show white in the wings in flight. Red-throated Loon has a thinner, upturned bill that it carries above horizontal. In basic and immature plumages its back is spangled with white spots and its head and neck are pale gray, with a straighter line of division with the white foreneck. Pacific Loon has a shorter, thinner bill, a sharp line dividing the pale foreneck and dark hindneck and no white around the eye. The rare Yellow-billed Loon is similar in all plumages, but has a bill that is beveled upwards at the tip and a blockier head, and is entirely yellow beyond the gonys. In basic and immature plumages, the head and hindneck are paler with a darker spot to the auriculars, and back has more pattern. |
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