Arctic Loon in California, Lower 48 Life Bird, July 2013

In summer 2012 I was able to see several breeding plumaged Arctic Loons in Nome, AK.  But I’ve never seen one in the Lower 48 – at least not one that I’ve counted.  Some years ago while birding on the WA coast I briefly saw a Pacific-type loon that had the classic white flank patch of an Arctic.  Although my view was only for a few seconds before it dove, it was a scope view at less than 100 yards on smooth water.  So pretty conclusive just too brief.  Unfortunately I never refound the bird, so I was hesitant to count it especially as a life bird.

Fast forward to 2013 – an Arctic Loon was being reliably seen on the CA coast in the Monterey area in January.  Unfortunately it was first found the week of one of my San Francisco business trips and I couldn’t break free to try for it.  And it disappeared right before my next San Francisco trip, so I missed the chance to add it on my Lower 48 list.  Then came posts that another Arctic Loon was amazingly spotted on an inland lake, at Bonelli Regional Park east of Los Angeles, in late May.  I wouldn’t be surprised if both a summer sighting and an inland location are unprecedented in CA.  But was this one just passing through, or would it stick around long enough for my next CA business trip?  Miraculously it not only stuck around, but was becoming very reliable.  So as my July trip to CA neared, I traded e-mails with local birder Rod Higbie to get the best microdirections to find the bird, and he agreed to meet me at the park to help look for it. 

I arrived at Bonelli Park late in the day and within 5 minutes Rod joined me on the search for the loon.  He took me right to the bird’s favorite portion of the lake and there it was – one of the easiest lifebirds I’ve ever had.  The bird was actively diving, and not unlike other Arctic/Pacific Loons, would return to the surface quite a distance from where it dove.  But eventually the bird stopped feeding, and spent a considerable time preening.  I was able to get several somewhat marginal phone-scoped photos of the bird, though the bird was pretty far out on the lake by now (much farther than my WA bird).  Some of my photos show the classic white flank patch while some others showed almost completely white sides.

And then there's this really bad photo of the bird when it was much closer.  Although I didn't get the head in the photo, the flank patch is especially easy to see.

I was lucky enough to take one photo while the bird had its wings spread, and it looked like it was missing the tip of its left wing.  Otherwise the primaries and secondaries seemed to be in pretty shape.  Loons need a considerable amount of lift to take off.  So given this bird’s wing damage it may not be able to fly again, and may be destined to stay on the lake at Bonelli Park for some time to come. 

Arctic Loon is #713 on my Lower 48 life list, and #355 for my CA list.  And now that I have seen Arctic Loon in the Lower 48, I’ve decided to go back and add the WA bird to that state list as well - #251.  Not sure if that’s the best logic, but the only reason I didn’t count the WA bird in the first place was that I didn’t feel good about adding a bird to my life list with such a limited view.