Yellow-billed Loon Life History

Habitat

Yellow-billed Loons breed on lowland arctic tundra in areas dominated by shallow lakes, streams, and wetlands. Characteristic plants in these treeless regions include sedges, grasses, mosses, lichens, and dwarf shrubs. This species typically nests along large, clear lakes that are at least 2 meters (7 feet) deep. Lakes with irregular shorelines, aquatic vegetation, and stable water levels provide better sites for nesting and raising chicks. During migration, Yellow-billed Loons use large freshwater lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. Birds migrating from Alaska to East Asia may also use offshore waters. Birds in the nonbreeding season often use nearshore marine waters in protected bays and archipelagos.

Food

Yellow-billed Loons feed almost exclusively on fish, but in saltwater habitats they may also take some crustaceans and marine worms. This species catches most of its food by diving, often looking underwater first and then using its webbed feet to pursue prey underwater.

Nesting

Nest Placement

Typically placed on peat within 1 meter (3 feet) of a lake, either on an island or protected peninsula.

Nest Description

Usually a shallow depression, often unlined or lined with grasses and sedges; occasionally lined with willows or mosses. Frequently reuses old nest bowls.

Nesting Facts

Behavior

Yellow-billed Loons are classic waterbirds, coming ashore only to nest. This loon’s leg placement—at the far back end of the body—makes it a powerful swimmer and diver, and extremely clumsy on land. This species is a strong flier, using rapid wingbeats to move through the air at speeds up to 40 mph.

Yellow-billed Loon pairs are monogamous during the breeding season, but pair bonds usually end when birds leave their nesting lake. Both sexes add material to the nest, incubate the eggs, and feed the young. Chicks leave the nest on their own, and the nest is abandoned within a day of the hatching of the second chick. Young chicks (9–16 days old) may ride on parents’ backs, although this is less common in Yellow-billed Loons than in Common Loons, probably due to the lack of predators like turtles and pike in their tundra nesting lakes.

Conservation

Partners in Flight estimates Yellow-billed Loon’s global population size at 16,000 breeding individuals and rates the species a 17 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, indicating a Red Watch List species of high conservation concern. In addition, the 2022 State of the Birds report for North America identified Yellow-billed Loon as a “Tipping Point” species, because it lost 50% of its population between 1970 and 2019 and is projected to lose another 50% in the next 50 years.

This species was evaluated in 2014 for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act but did not meet the criteria for Endangered or Threatened status. Over 90% of the Yellow-billed Loons breeding in northern Alaska occur in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, which could see increased oil and gas development. (Read more about the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska's importance for birds.) The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which manages NPR–A, has implemented “Special Conditions” for future development specifically designed to minimize disturbance to nesting Yellow-billed Loons.

Credits

Bird Banding Laboratory (2023). Longevity Records of North American Birds. Version 2023.1. Eastern Ecological Science Center. US Geological Survey, Laurel, MD, USA.

Dunne, P. (2006). Pete Dunne's essential field guide companion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, USA.

Jonsson, L. (1992). Birds of Europe: with North Africa and the Middle East. Christopher Helm, London, United Kingdom.

Partners in Flight. 2024. Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2024. Available at http://pif.birdconservancy.org/ACAD.

Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.

Svensson, L., K. Mullarney, and D. Zetterström (2009). Collins Bird Guide. Second edition. HarperCollins, London, UK.

Uher-Koch, B. D., M. R. North, and J. A. Schmutz (2020). Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.

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