Seabirds & Waterfowl - Sounds Wild
Pacific Loons

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Transcript

On a calm evening in late May a friend and I visit a cove north of Juneau. Standing on a bluff overlooking the water, we see what looks like a huge flock of seaducks – scoters maybe. We check with our binoculars and are astonished to see not ducks, but loons. Hundreds of Pacific loons. I’ve seen common loons before, and a few pairs of Pacific loons, but I’ve never seen anything like this. We count close to 400 loons, in four large loose groups. The next day I return with my camera and a spotting scope, but they’re gone. I drive out the road and check a few more coves and inlets with no luck, but a week later, I return to find a group of about a hundred birds. They’re all Pacific loons, mostly adults, but some juveniles mixed in, distinctive in their drab grey plumage.

I learn that Pacific loons are actually the most abundant of the five loon species in North America, making them more common than the common loon. And they are known to gather in large numbers. Often this occurs in winter, when they gather in coastal bays and inlets. I have not seen that here in northern Southeast Alaska, and it’s not winter. The large groups I saw are likely migrating birds heading to their summer breeding grounds. They’ll head inland to establish nesting territories on lakes and ponds.