The sight or sound of one of these birds in Alaskan waters gives a special meaning to many, as if it were certifying the surrounding as a truly wild place. Loons have stout bodies, long necks, pointed bills, three-toed webbed feet, and spend most of their time afloat. Loons are sometimes confused with cormorants, mergansers, grebes, and other diving water birds. Loons have solid bones, and compress the air out of their feathers to float low in the water. A loon's bill is held parallel to the water, but the cormorant holds its hooked bill at an angle.
Mergansers have narrower bills and a crest.
Grebes, also diving water birds, are relatively short-bodied. Loons can be distinguished from ducks in flight by their slower wing beat and low-slung necks and heads. As its name implies, the red-throat has a triangular throat patch of vivid, rusty red. It has a thin, slightly upturned bill and vertical white stripes on the back of its head and neck. Its back is thickly speckled with white.