OK, after some feedback from people that know a lot more than I do, this bird is most likely a Common Loon. The primary indicator is the line on the neck which separates the white on the front and the darker color on the back of the neck. There is a white 'bubble' near the top of the neck that extends to the back which breaks up the smooth line along the side of the neck. Although it is not a jagged triangular shape, the overall profile is not a smooth line when viewed from the side. It is not real clear in my pictures, but can be seen to some extent. In addition, in the upper picture, the bill looks pretty long, and this matches my observation notes. As far as I can tell, the bill on a PALO is shorter and not quite as thick as the bill on a COLO. While it is hard to tell from these photos, I noted during observation that the bill looked larger, in line with a COLO.
Reasons why I thought it might be a PALO were the head profile seemed to be more rounded with a gentler slope to the forehead, although I did get a shot where the head looked flatter on the top. The neck pattern (white/dark border) at times looked smoother, but there was the obvious white 'bubble' extending towards the back visible at times.
After looking at all of the details, this one looks to be a Common Loon, although with some variation in the neck color pattern. I did find a couple of pictures online that look similar to this one, identified as COLO.
It was a good day to be outside, none the less.
cheers -
Jeff Parks
Boulder CO
-- Reasons why I thought it might be a PALO were the head profile seemed to be more rounded with a gentler slope to the forehead, although I did get a shot where the head looked flatter on the top. The neck pattern (white/dark border) at times looked smoother, but there was the obvious white 'bubble' extending towards the back visible at times.
After looking at all of the details, this one looks to be a Common Loon, although with some variation in the neck color pattern. I did find a couple of pictures online that look similar to this one, identified as COLO.
It was a good day to be outside, none the less.
cheers -
Jeff Parks
Boulder CO
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