Date

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Speakers

Location

Parking:
On site and free.

Time

Cost

Title

The Uncommon Common Loons of the Morro Estuary

Topics

There are five species of loons in North America (genus, Gavia); common loon, red-throated loon, Pacific loon, Arctic loon, and yellow-billed loon. Arctic loon and yellow billed loon sightings are very rare in this area. These birds breed, migrate and winter north of the Canadian border and into the Arctic. The common loon's range is the widest of all five species. The common loon breeds on inland lakes from southern New York State through the lower Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Seaway along the Canadian-American border to the West Coast.

The last reported Loon nest in the state of California (Common, Red-throated, Yellow-billed or Pacific) was on Lassen Lake in the 1960s. Loons disappeared as a breeder from Oregon and Idaho at the same time. Up to the late 1800s Loons bred as far south as Lake Tahoe, the lower elevation Sierra lakes as well as Shasta and Lassen.

The predominant species on the Morro Estuary is the common loon, providing a wintering ground to the juveniles and adults (adults will return to the breeding ground at the end of March).

We see and hear what appears to be a different bird on Morro Bay during the winter than in Minnesota, Washington State, Montana or Wisconsin in the summer. But deep down this is the same bird answering the same rhythms of migration, molt, choosing a mate, rearing young, hunting, avoiding predators and carrying the same genes of a species that is over 9 million years old.

About the Speakers

The study of Loons on the Morro Bay is being conducted by Darwin Long, head field biologist of the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI), aided, along with a host of others, by Henry Pontarelli, current president of the Morro Coast Audubon Society. Henry is serving as a field tech and administrator for the Winter Loon Survey on Morro Bay. Please come join Darwin and Henry for an exciting and informative presentation that addresses general loon ecology, behavior, migrations, adaptations and population ecology. We will also learn more specifics on the genetics, habitat use, plumage progression and toxicology of wintering loons on the Morro Estuary and coastal California.