Lunacy is afoot at Race Point! On Saturday, for the first time in the long ornithological history of the state, a Yellow-billed Loon was seen and photographed at Race Point in Provincetown.
I want to stress just how rare and difficult it is to find a species that no one has ever seen before in Massachusetts. Our state not only has one of the longest and most storied ornithological histories in the country, dating back to John James Audubon himself, but also boasts probably the highest density of skilled field birders as well. Finding a new state record is something akin to winning the lottery.
This Yellow-billed Loon, which is a larger cousin of our familiar Common Loon, was found by Steve Arena. Steve, along with Peter Flood and Blair Nikula, has been a fixture at the Race, and all three men have been documenting an eye-popping number and variety of seabirds that is changing what we know about the presence of difficult to observe offshore species on Cape Cod. Incidentally, Steve, Peter, and Blair, whom I have collectively dubbed the “Race Point Bird Observatory” will all be speaking about seabirds at Mass Audubon’s Birder’s Meeting, being held at UMass Boston on March 13, so check that out.
People may not realize that there’s more to loons in these parts then your standard On Golden Pond, eerily yodeling Common Loon familiar to so many. We actually have three loon species on the Cape, and the Common Loon isn’t even the most common one.
We have the relatively slender, thin-billed Red-throated Loon, which may number in the hundreds to thousands from fall migration through early spring, as well as the very rare Pacific Loon, of which only a few are seen in any given year. All three have been present at Race Point this week, meaning that for this first time ever, it’s possible to see 4/5ths of the world’s loon species at once in Massachusetts.
Yellow-billed Loons are the largest of the world’s loon species, weighing in at almost 15 pounds. This heft comes in part because, unlike most birds, loons have solid bones. Like other loons, they are long lived (maybe it’s all the omega 3’s from that fish-rich diet) but Yellow-bills have very specific habitat requirements, and so nest at low densities in certain remote parts of Alaska, Canada, and Russia. They are currently a candidate for listing under the US Endangered Species Act due to the low population size, low reproductive rate, and threats that include climate change, fishing bycatch, and subsistence hunting by indigenous people.
If you go looking for this rare loon, be prepared to make the nearly two mile slog through soft sand to reach Race Point proper. But along the way you can look for the fin whales and humpback whales that folks have been seeing, the yearling Harp Seal and Gray Seal pup that have been lounging on the beach, or maybe the Snowy Owl that a few have seen near the Race.
And of course, make sure keep your distance from all of these critters. If you’re not on the beach, then I hope I’ll see all nature fans this Saturday at the Cape Cod Natural History Conference put on by Wellfleet Bay sanctuary and held at Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable. Talks will cover everything from seabirds to whales and dolphins to beetles to squid, so I guaranteed you’ll learn something new.
