U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii)

Description from the Aleutian Islands to Puget vegetation. One or two large, smooth, The yellow-billed loon is one of five loon Sound; the Pacific coast of Asia from the mottled brown eggs are laid in mid- to species, and is most closely related to Sea of Okhotsk south to the Yellow Sea; late June; hatching occurs after 27-28 the common loon (Gavia immer) with the Barents Sea and the coast of the Kola days of incubation; incubation is shared similarities in size and appearance. Peninsula; coastal waters of Norway; and equally by both sexes. Although the Yellow-billed loons are most easily Great Britain. actual age at which young are capable of distinguished from common loons by flight is unknown, it is probably similar to their larger yellow or ivory bill. During Habitat and Habits common loons (from 8-9, but possibly as the non-breeding season, yellow-billed Yellow-billed loons nest exclusively in many as 11 weeks). The young leave the loons lose their distinctive black and coastal and inland low-lying tundra, in nest soon after hatching and the family white plumage and molt into dull, light association with permanent, fish-bearing may then move between natal and brood- brown feathers. lakes. Lakes that are able to support rearing lakes. Both males and females breeding loons have (or are adjacent participate in feeding and caring for Species Status to streams/rivers that have) abundant young. The yellow-billed loon was designated fish populations; offer depths greater a candidate species for listing under than 2 meters (6 feet); are large (at Population Level the Endangered Species Act (ESA) least 13.4 hectares, or 30 acres); feature Most of the yellow-billed loon’s breeding throughout its range in March 2009. highly convoluted, vegetated, and low- range has not been extensively surveyed, It remained a candidate species until lying shorelines; and provide both clear and only in Alaska have surveys been September 2014 when the Service water and dependable water levels. It is conducted specifically for breeding determined that listing under the ESA thought that yellow-billed loons occupy yellow-billed loons. Population sizes in was not warranted. the same breeding territory throughout Russia and Canada have been their reproductive lives. There estimated using anecdotal Range is no reliable scientific observations and analysis There are five separate breeding areas information on lifespan of available habitats. The that are recognized, two each in Alaska and survivorship, but as global breeding population and Canada and one in Russia. In large-bodied birds with low clutch size of yellow-billed Alaska, yellow-billed loons nest on the size, yellow-billed loons are likely loons is unknown, but is Arctic Coastal Plain (Alaska-ACP) north slow maturing, long-lived, and probably in the range of of the Brooks Range and in the region dependent upon high annual 16,000 to 32,000 individuals surrounding Kotzebue Sound in western adult survival to maintain with 3,000 to 4,000 breeding in Alaska, primarily the northern Seward populations. Nest sites Alaska. Peninsula. In Canada, they nest on are usually located on islands in the Arctic Ocean and on the islands, hummocks, Subsistence mainland between the Mackenzie Delta peninsulas, or along There is no legal harvest and Hudson Bay. In Russia, they nest low shorelines, within of yellow-billed loons on a narrow strip of coastal tundra from one meter (about 3 allowed in the United the Chukotka Peninsula in the east and feet) of water. Nests States. However, in on the western Taymyr Peninsula in are constructed of mud Alaska’s North Slope the west, with a break in distribution or peat, and often Region only, a regional between these two areas. The wintering lined with total of up to 20 range includes coastal waters of southern Alaska Ted Swem / USFWS Ted to actions protecting loons. Specifically:

n The Service works closely with the Bureau of Land Management to monitor and maintain protection of loons on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

n The Service works closely with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to minimize impacts on yellow-billed loons from oil and gas activities in Arctic Outer Continental Shelf regions.

Ted Swem / USFWS Ted n The Service continues Yellow billed loons are most easily distinguished from common loons by their larger yellow or to inventory yellow-billed ivory bill loons through waterfowl yellow-billed loons per year may be kept that the breeding population, which we surveys on the Alaska-ACP and will if inadvertently caught in subsistence believe to be representative of the other continue to investigate the potential for fishing nets and used for subsistence breeding populations, is stable or slightly initiating other yellow-billed loon-specific purposes. increasing. surveys (e.g., in Arctic waters); the National Park Service will continue loon- Reasons for Current Status Conservation Measures specific surveys currently in operation on Since its candidacy to the ESA in The Service, working with a variety of the Seward Peninsula. 2009, new information on the yellow- Native, State and Federal partners, are billed loon has been collected. There implementing conservation measures to n The Service’s Endangered Species and are two primary reasons that listing protect the yellow-billed loon in northern Migratory Bird Management programs of the yellow-billed loon was recently and western Alaska. We expect these are working closely with the Alaska determined to be not “not warranted.” cumulative actions will reduce impacts on Migratory Bird Co-management Council yellow-billed loons. (AMBCC), the native corporations, local First, subsequent to the 2009 finding, communities in the Bering Strait region, the Service and its partners expanded The Service and its partners agreed to the North Slope Borough and the State efforts to better understand yellow-billed implement the following strategies: (1) of Alaska to acquire reliable, verifiable loon harvest, abundance, and distribution implement specific actions to protect information on subsistence harvest and in the Bering Strait-Norton Sound yellow-billed loons and their breeding fishing by-catch levels in Alaska, and to region with the goal of evaluating the habitats in Alaska from potential impacts substantially increase education and law reliability of reported harvest. Based of land uses and management activities, enforcement efforts to reduce levels of on this information, which includes local including oil and gas development; (2) this threat. and traditional ecological knowledge inventory and monitor yellow-billed and ethnographic information, we now loon breeding populations in Alaska; n The Service supports the ongoing believe that only a small proportion of the (3) reduce the impact of subsistence research by the USGS and others on total range-wide population is harvested activities (including fishing and hunting) yellow-billed loons in Alaska. annually; that harvest practices or use on yellow-billed loons in Alaska; and (4) of loons have not increased significantly, conduct biological research on yellow- nor are they likely to do so in the future; billed loons, including response to and that the current population trend of management actions. stable or increasing on the Alaska-ACP For more information, contact: likely reflects population-level response The strategies outlined demonstrate Ted Swem, Endangered Species Branch to ongoing harvest levels. the partners’ commitment to prioritize Chief, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, yellow-billed loon conservation in Alaska. [email protected] Second, additional years of survey data The Service continues to work with 907/456 0441 on the Alaska-ACP further support partners to maintain their commitment September 2014