It’s 20 degrees outside and, with the 4″ snow cover from today’s early-winter storm, I guess I’m inspired to learn about a bird that’s very comfortable in this climate: the Red-throated Loon. I had my first-ever sighting of this loon species last week (November 21) at Oklahoma City’s Lake Hefner. When I spotted the Red-throated in a group of Common Loons, I was dumbstruck, yes, but also amazed at how small this bird is. I’ve been watching the loons on Lake Hefner for the past five years hoping to see a Red-throated (usually spotted once or twice a year) or a Pacific Loon (a possibility but a rarity). And for the past five years, I’ve sent many photos of Common Loons to Jim Arterburn, my birding guru, hoping that he’d finally tell me I’d seen one of the rarer loons. You see, I can — and do — see identifying features on a bird in the field that are strictly from my imagination. But last week I knew the bird I was watching was definitely not a Common Loon. A “eureka!” moment.
The National Geographic Complete Birds of North America describes the Red-throated Loon as the smallest and most lightly built loon. It is at least 7″ shorter than the Common. And I learned from the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology site that this bird “breeds in coastal and inland tundra in Alaska and northern Canada. Also breeds across extreme northern Europe and Russia.” What makes this bird sighting in Oklahoma interesting is that the bird is known to winter along the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts and in small numbers on the Great Lakes. Oklahoma City is in the center of the Southern Plains so the birds are a quite a bit off course when they show up on our city reservoir!
I’ve now located the Red-throated Loon on three different occasions and even found it in the company of another one! The bird that’s in this photo is described by Jim Arterburn as an adult molting from breeding to winter plummage. It’s companion was in winter plummage (if these birds stay for a while I hope to get better photos, especially of the one in winter plummage).
I’m excited to add this species to my Photo Gallery. It’s a beautiful, delicate loon that comes from the top of the earth to visit in Oklahoma!
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