A yellow-billed loon is visiting South Platte Reservoir, in Littleton, attracting flocks of Front Range birders to the site. Present for a week or so, the loon may hang around as long as it finds enough food or until spring arrives.
Natives of Arctic Canada and Alaska, yellow-billed loons are the largest members of their family. After breeding on tundra lakes during the endless sunshine of the Arctic summer, they head for coastal waters of southern Alaska and British Columbia for the winter months. There they ride out the season on coastal bays, diving for fish.
Some may winter farther down the Pacific Coast but yellow-billed loons rarely head for inland lakes. Our current visitor is thus creating a great deal of excitement in Colorado and reminding us all that you never know what you'll find until you get out there and look!
Natives of Arctic Canada and Alaska, yellow-billed loons are the largest members of their family. After breeding on tundra lakes during the endless sunshine of the Arctic summer, they head for coastal waters of southern Alaska and British Columbia for the winter months. There they ride out the season on coastal bays, diving for fish.
Some may winter farther down the Pacific Coast but yellow-billed loons rarely head for inland lakes. Our current visitor is thus creating a great deal of excitement in Colorado and reminding us all that you never know what you'll find until you get out there and look!
