Birds of The Chigniks: Horned Puffin – the Bird that Wears its Wedding Colors on Its Beak

Posted on February 5, 2022 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

This photo of a pair of Horned Puffins was taken in late May, right in the heart of their breeding season which runs from mid-spring through mid-summer. This is when their enormous bills are at their largest and most colorful – literally fluorescent. Males and females are monomorphic; that is, they show the same plumage. (Alaska Gulf)

Who knew that in some species of birds, bill shape, size and color changes with the seasons? Such is the case of the Horned Puffin, which grows additional layers of colorful keratin – the same material hair, feathers and fingernails are made of – during the breeding season. When the season concludes, puffins sluff off the additional material and their beaks become smaller and duller. The vibrant lemon-yellow coloration mostly disappears and the tangerine-orange becomes a more mellow peach. While relatively large, the bills of juveniles are smaller than those of adults and appear gray or a coal-dusted orange.

Juvenile Horned Puffin, Chignik Lake, September 11, 2021. The Chignik Drainage cuts through mountains, creating an avian corridor across the Alaska Peninsula at a point where it is about 40 miles across from the Alaska Gulf on the southwest side to the Bering Sea to the northwest. From passerines falling out in nearby spruce groves to oceanic species seeking refuge during storms or pausing during migration to forage, you never know what you’ll encounter along the Chignik.

With puffin breeding colonies on nearby Alaska Gulf islands as well as additional sites on peninsula headlands, the estuary and seas near Chignik Lake are an excellent year-round place to encounter Horned Puffins. Here they feed on abundant herring, sand lances, juvenile salmon, sculpins and other forage. Dense, well-oiled feathers and wings that become flippers propel puffins to depths of 100 feet and possibly more. Feeding for themselves, puffins swallow most of their prey underwater. If you see one with a beak overflowing with silvery sand lances or herring, it’s undoubtedly taking them back to its nest.

It is reported that a Horned Puffin can carry dozens of small fish in its bill. I counted eight sand lances here. (Alaska Gulf near Chignik, July 28, 2020,)

In former times, puffins were shot and salted down for food by the barrelful. They were even considered acceptable fare on Catholic holy days when fish rather than other forms of meat was to be consumed. In Alaska, both Tufted and Horned Puffins were traditionally hunted with hooks baited with fish a well as with hoop nets on long handles. Also, a type of bola was thrown into the air to entangle seabirds returning to their nests. In addition to utilizing puffin meat and eggs, the skins and feathers were used in clothing. Historical accounts describe puffins as curious and friendly, but they are apparently still hunted in some areas and anytime that’s the case they can be challenging to approach.

Horned Puffins, so named for a small, fleshy point protruding above each eye (see the first photo in this article) are easily distinguished from Tufted Puffins, above. Both species are present in the Alaska Gulf near Chignik.

The best time to see puffins along the Alaska Peninsula is during the summertime breeding season. The weather is often mild, the seas calm, and the birds, hunting for themselves as well as for their chicks, can often be found close to shore. Look for the same sorts of current breaks you might look for when salmon fishing, as these rips concentrate baitfish.

In flight, they skim the seas like some form of exotic bee, chunky dark bodies pulled along by those wonderfully colorful bills, determined wings rapidly beating the air into submission. Suddenly they glide upward along the face of a rocky headland and unerringly disappear into a crevice where a chick or mate is waiting. Over and over they repeat the circuit – the flight out, the deep dives, the return flight – until one day they gather their forces and all the puffins and perhaps other nearby nesters as well head en masse out to sea where they will spend the winter months. Juveniles, no longer under the care of their parents, will struggle at first to tag along, often not making it far before they need a rest. And then, they too will find themselves over the sea’s depths. For the youngsters, it will be two years before they return to their natal headlands or island. But the adults return each year, finding familiar ledges and spaces between rocks, watching over a single egg, and joining other puffins, murres, auklets and guillemots over shoals of herring, sand lances and out-migrating salmon smolts. It is an amazing sight to behold.

Horned Puffin Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab or Ornithology, Birds of the World

Horned Puffin Fratercula corniculata
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Alcidae
Genus: Fratercula – Medieval Latin fratercula = friar for the semblance of their plumage to monks’ robes
Species: corniculata – Latin for horn-shaped, referencing the bill

Status in Marine Waters near Chignik: Common to Abundant; rare or accidental in the freshwater drainage

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Not observed

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010: Uncommon in Spring, Fall and Winter; Common in Summer

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Present

Table of Contents and Complete List of Birds of Chignik Lake

© Photographs, images and text by Jack Donachy unless otherwise noted.

For a list of reference materials used in this project, see: Birds of Chignik Lake

Birds of Chignik Lake: Northern Shoveler – a Bill like Baleen

Posted on December 5, 2021 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Strikingly marked with blues, iridescent greens, russet flanks and contrasting white, Northern Shovelers are a beautiful bird. And that bill… (Photo taken April 28, 2021, Chignik Lake)

Two decades have passed since the days when I used to ride my bicycle in wintertime and spring to the Hanamizu River in Hiratsuka, Japan to look for birds there. I did not consider myself a birder then, but I liked to look at the water and I carried binoculars and sometimes a bird field guide with me. There were herons and egrets, and it was a good place to see turquoise-colored kingfishers, a favorite, and to find shrikes which left worms and other small creatures impaled on barbed wire fences around gardens along the river. There were startling, parrot-like green woodpeckers, redstarts and other birds in the forested hills nearby, and sometimes I’d go there to look for those as well as owls, which I never did find. My favorite place was the river, though, and I’d often pack a lunch and find a place to sit and watch the ducks. There isn’t much hunting done in Japan, and so the birds were neither tame nor particularly wary. I was often closer to species such as teal, wigeons, mallards and pintails than I’m ever able to get here on the Chignik.

Drake (left) and hen Northern Shovelers, Chignik Lake, April 28, 2021.

Perhaps the most approachable of the Hanamizu’s waterfowl were the Northern Shovelers. Quiet as ducks go, they’d busily and rapidly swish their bills back and forth through stiller portions of the river, managing by means of their unique bills and a feeding strategy unlike the other ducks to avoid competition. As it turns out, their spatula-like bills are equipped with over 100 very fine, comb-like structures shovelers use to sift out small organisms. In both appearance and effect, these lamellae are similar to the baleen of certain species of whales. So, while shovelers are dabblers (non-diving ducks), they do more swishing and churning with their bills than tipping butt up as do teal and mallards.

Typical shoveler feeding behavior: stir up the water or silty bottom, sift the mix through fine, comb-like lamellae lining the inside edges of the bill, and swallow whatever is edible. Midge larvae are abundant in Chignik Lake, making them a likely repast. John J. Audubon reported finding leeches, snails and small fishes among stomach contents.

In four years of living at Chignik Lake and looking at various species of ducks up and down the Chignik drainage, I’d never seen shovelers here. David Narver didn’t record them in his avian study of the Chigniks conducted in the early 1960’s, and a quick check of this species on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds site indicated very few sightings on the Alaska Peninsula and none at all on the Gulf of Alaska side where Chignik Lake is located. So I was astounded to look at my window in the predawn of April 28 and see the unmistakable silhouettes of ducks sporting those bills. Three drakes and a hen, milling near shore along the beach where many of us park our skiffs and scows. I knew I had to make my pictures quickly. It wouldn’t be long before people headed down to the beach to launch their crafts, at which point the ducks would surely take flight and continue their migration across the peninsula.

Among ducks, Norther Shovelers are particularly known for lifelong monogamous pairings. (4/28/21)

The problem I was facing was that what little light there was shone from behind the birds. Given that encountering this species is at best a rare event on the Chignik, my best option was to turn up the ISO, keep the aperture as open as practical, and at the very least make some decent “record” or documentation pictures and deal with image noise and softness later. The pictures in this article are all from photos I took in the pre-dawn light that morning.

As I feared, just as the sun began peeking over the snow-capped mountains rimming the lake, a honda engine pierced the morning calm. As it drew closer, the quartet began hurriedly paddling for deeper water. Suddenly they broke, sent the water into a froth as they took wing, and were gone. (4/28/21)

The Lake is the kind of place where, at any given moment, an interested person might take a closer look and see a species of bird never before recorded here. But in what part of the world isn’t that true? Regrettably, I cannot remember the author’s name, but there is a very short piece of Japanese Zen poetry that reads,

Tend the garden
any size

Those words might be paraphrased to read,

Make a study
anywhere

It seems that the closer one looks – at anything – the more there is to see and to learn and to marvel at.

Northern Shoveler Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World. Note that the Alaska Gulf side of the Alaska Peninsula is not considered to be part of this species’ range.

Northern Shoveler, Spatula clypeata
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Spatula: Latin for spoon or spatula
clypeata: Latin for shield bearing or shield

Status at Chignik Lake, 2016 to present: Rare or perhaps even accidental. Most likely to be encountered as a spring migrant. However, as shovelers are known to breed on the Alaska Peninsula, this is a species to be on the lookout for in any likely habitat, particularly at Black Lake at the head of the drainage.

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, Spring & Summers 1960-63: Not reported.

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010:
Common in Spring; Uncommon in Summer & Fall; Not reported in Winter.

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Presence Documented

Previous Article: Northern Pintail – the Dapper Dabbler

Next Article: American Wigeon – America’s Most Vegetarian Duck

For a clickable list of bird species and additional information about this project, click here: Birds of Chignik Lake

© Photographs, images and text by Jack Donachy unless otherwise noted.

Birds of Chignik: Black-Legged Kittiwake

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Black-legged Kittiwake nesting

You can imagine the high-pitched clamor as a boat draws near a colony of nesting kittiwakes. The gregarious gulls cram into every available ledge, adding their own beds of mud, grass and seaweed. There the females will lay one to three eggs in hues that might range from blue to olive to brown. (Resurrection Bay, Alaska, June 22, 2013)

Fancifully named for a cry that resembles kit-ti-wake, Black-legged Kittiwakes are generally the most common gull – and at times the most common seabird – along the Chignik Coast. At an average size of 17 inches, the relatively slender kittiwake is a graceful master of the salt air, soaring and coasting effortlessly until it spies a herring or other small fish at which point it dives tern-like into the water. Because they snatch fish from near the surface, kittiwakes are the friends of fishermen and whale watchers alike; flocks of these smallish gulls crashing the ocean surface for baitfish are reliable indicators that cod, salmon, halibut or other gamefish – or whales – are pushing the small fish to the surface. Kittiwakes have an uncanny capacity for somehow knowing when whales are about to surface – cueing photographers as to where to focus.

Black-legged Kittiwake with herring

Some have described the kittiwake as a “dainty” gull, but there’s nothing dainty about that bill. Note the bright red mouth of this bird in breeding plumage. It will cram as many of these herring as it reasonably is able to into its stomach and regurgitate a good portion of them to feed its young. (Chignik Bay, Alaska, June 28, 2020)

With the exception of breeding season, these are birds of the ocean, seldom venturing inland. While they may follow fishing boats and other vessels in search of fish that might be disoriented in the wake, kittiwakes will not be found at garbage dumps as are some other gulls. In addition to diving from the air to catch fish, kittiwakes sometimes sit on the surface and catch prey.

Black-legged Kittiwakes Chignik Bay

Following a morning of feeding, a flock of kittiwakes rests on Eagle Rock in Chignik Bay. (July 28, 2020).

Black-legged Kittiwake flight

Look for distinctive black wingtips, a dark eye, an all yellow bill, angular, somewhat tern-like wings, and a more slender profile than that of most other gulls.

Black-legged Kittiwake nonbreeding plumage Kenai Fjords

The dark splotch on the back of the head is indicative of a nonbreeding kittiwake. Juveniles will also have this splotch as well as a dark collar, a distinctive dark pattern on their wings, and a dark bill. (Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, August 2, 2009)

As the climate continues to warm and overfishing throughout the world persists, kittiwakes are a species to keep a a concerned eye on. Although their populations worldwide are in the millions, steep declines have been observed in recent years.

Black-legged Kittiwake Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World

Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
Order: Charadriiformes
Rissa: From Rita, the Icelandic name for this bird
tridactyla: Ancient Greek tridaktulos – three-toed. The kittiwake’s rear toe is reduced in size, giving the appearance of just three toes.

Status at Chignik Lake: Abundant in Chignik Lagoon and Chignik Bay, particularly in summer

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Occasional in Chignik Lagoon

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010:
Common in Spring & Summer; Uncommon in Fall; Rare in Winter

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Present

Table of Contents and Complete List of Birds of Chignik Lake

© Photographs, images and text by Jack Donachy unless otherwise noted.

For a list of reference materials used in this project, see: Birds of Chignik Lake

Birds of Chignik Lake: Greater Scaup

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

There seem to always be scaup somewhere in the Chignik System. Flocks regularly show up on the lake from fall through spring, particularly during colder winters. (Chignik Lake, January 3, 2017)

Many a winter’s day at The Lake was made more cheerful by an arriving flock of scaup. Although as few as one or two might show up, the more usual case from late fall through spring was that if there was one on the lake, there were at least a dozen or more, sometimes quite a few more. Early in the day they could sometimes be found cruising the shoreline near our home in the village. But as boats were launched and returned, they moved to the other side of the lake, a distance of approximately half-a-mile and well out of photography range. There they’d remain, day in and day out, their numbers growing as weather became increasingly inclement, usually joined by Common Goldeneyes and other ducks.

Although the male’s head often appears black, in the right light it has a distinctive green sheen which takes on a purple hue during breeding. Females sport a white mask at the base of the bill. Note the blue bill with its splotch of black lipstick and the yellow eyes. ( Chignik Lake, January 18, 2017)

I have carefully glassed individual scaup on the lake, pored over my photographs to compare images with those in field guides and can say with some confidence that there were no Lesser Scaup among the birds that visited our river and lake. I don’t know why this should be so, as both species are common in Alaska. Nonetheless, a variety of range maps are consistent in agreement that only the Greater Scaup is to be found on the peninsula. Let’s see… head a little larger, more round – but also more sloped…, slightly whiter body, a little more white in the wing stripe in flight, somewhat larger dark splotch on bill, a bit larger overall… One vexingly relative comparison after another… I give up. What does the range map indicate again?

The scaup we observed appeared to feed mainly on aquatic vegetation with an occasional freshwater clam mixed in. This female has found a mollusk of some kind. It is believed that the word scaup is a Scottish variant of the northern English term “scalp,” which means “mussel bed.” (Chignik River, January 27, 2017)

Greaters? Lessers? (Denali Highway, Interior Alaska, June 2, 2017)

The text Birds of North America¹, which despite having been written over 100 years ago continues to gain my appreciation, states that the two species vary “principally…in size.” Which seems to be as useful and honest a thing as one might say about making a field identification of scaup. That’s not to say the difference isn’t important. The extent to which any two species – or even strains of species – differ in habitat requirements and preferences makes each a bell-weather for the ecosystem it depends on. But as field observers, whether the being we are considering is a redpoll, a scaup, a steelhead or a char, it may not always be possible to know, in the field, precisely what variety of redpoll, scaup, steelhead or char we have before us.

As to the mated pair in the preceding photograph… my guess is Lesser Scaup. The female’s head appears to have a peak or corner at the rear, the male is showing a fair amount of purple in its head and only a small splotch of black on the end of its bill. The barring on his back is fairly coarse… but in the end, I can identify nothing definitive to say with certainty one way or the other. Perhaps some kind reader with greater experience than mine will come to the rescue.

Two hens, two drakes skim above Chignik Lake in silvery early morning light. (January 26, 2017)

¹Birds of North America, T. Gilbert Pearson, ed., Garden City Books, Garden City, New York, 1917

Greater Scaup Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World

Greater Scaup Aythya marila
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Aythya: from Ancient Greek, a term used by Aristotle believed to describe a duck or seabird
marila: from Greek for coal dust

Status at Chignik Lake, 2016-19: Common and generally Abundant

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Abundant on Black Lake; Common on Chignik Lake

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010: Common in Spring, Summer & Fall; Uncommon in Winter

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List:

loon silhouette

Previous Article: Life on the Frozen Chignik

Next Article: Ring-necked Duck

*For a clickable list of bird species and additional information about this project, click here: Birds of Chignik Lake

© All photographs, images and text by Jack Donachy unless otherwise noted.

Birds of Chignik Lake: Pied-billed Grebe – an Alaska Peninsula First

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

As far as I can determine, this is the lone example of a Pied-billed Grebe recorded on the Alaska Peninsula. The facial striping indicates a first-year bird. (Chignik Lake, January 5, 2019)

The sun hadn’t yet peeked over the mountains rimming Chignik Lake when I noticed a small, grebe-like bird working a nearshore cove. I picked up the binoculars always handy near the living/dining room window and glassed the little bird.

The same bird as above in profile, skim ice in the background. (Chignik Lake, January 5, 2019)

Whoa! There’s a Pied-billed Grebe down below Fred’s! I exclaimed to Barbra. A couple of minutes later, I was clad in waders, camera fixed to its tripod slung over my shoulder. I quietly worked my way toward this out-of-place fellow. Wading out into the water, I stood still, hoping the bird might come closer to check me out.

The grebe did move in a little, but it was still a long shot and there was very little light. I set my aperture to its maximum opening, spun the ISO dial further than I would have cared to, and managed a couple of shots. Then the grebe swam off. Although it hung around for a few days, after that first morning it was always on the far side of the lake. And then it was gone.

From Wikipedia, a Pied-billed in summer plumage. (Mdf – First upload in en wikipedia on 21:02, 27 May 2005 by Mdf)

It’s hard to know what to make of a one-off such as this. Pied-billeds very occasionally have been reported in southern Alaska, but as the map below indicates, this individual was well beyond the typical range for this species. Things are changing in our world; it could be that Pied-billeds are pushing north. For now though, an occurrence such as this is best thought of as an “accidental.” In any event, I was happy to record this species. Maybe this small puzzle piece will have some significance in the future when others study the Chignik area.

Pied-billed Grebe Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World

Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Order: Podicipediformes
Podilymbus: Podi from Greek, refers to feet at the rear; lympus from the Greek kolympus = diver
podiceps: from Latin for rump-headed

Status at Chignik Lake 2016-19: Accidental

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Not Reported

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010:
Not Reported

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Not Reported

Previous Article: Red-necked Grebe

Next Article: Pelagic Cormorant

*For a clickable list of bird species and additional information about this project, click here: Birds of Chignik Lake

© Photographs, images and text by Jack Donachy unless otherwise noted.

Birds of Chignik Lake: Yellow-billed Loon

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

This handsome Yellow-billed Loon was hanging out in an eddy favored by piscivores on the Chignik River. During breeding season, in addition to a distinctive black-and-white chessboard back and bright red eyes, that massive bill would be a diagnostic lemon-sunshine yellow. (November 27, 2017)

When I began this project, I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a Yellow-billed Loon, so I was stoked when in November of 2016 a “different looking” loon sent me to my copy of The Sibley Field Guide. I’d love to see this species in its dramatic breeding plumage, but any sighting of this fairly rare bird constitutes a red-letter day.

What first drew my attention to the Yellow-bills I encountered was their size. Compared even with Commons, they’re large. And of course there’s that dagger Yellow-bills are armed with. While the bills of wintertime Commons can take on a light, blueish-silver color, there’s no mistaking the yellow in a Yellow-billed.

Salmon parr dimple the surface of The Bend on the Chignik River just below Chignik Lake. This is a good place to set a net for Sockeyes, cast a fly for Silvers, or check for fish-eaters such as otters, seals, eagles, kingfishers, mergansers and goldeneyes. (May 7, 2019)

—————————————————————

Range: Yellow-billed Loons are circumpolar Arctic breeders with about half of the world’s 10,000 birds living in Alaska. Their winter range includes the coastal waters of the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Alaskan coast as it extends south and on into British Columbia. They are occasionally observed in fall and winter as far down the Pacific Coast as California, rarely to Mexico, occasionally to inland lakes.

Yellow-billed Loon: Gavia adamsii
Order: Gaviiformes
Gavia: sea mew
adamsii: after British naval surgeon & naturalist Edward Adams who collected and sketched this species

Status at Chignik Lake 2016-19: Occasional in Fall & Winter

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Not Observed

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010:
Rare in Fall & Winter; Not Observed Spring & Summer

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Probable but not Verified

Previous Article: Common Loon

Next Article: Red-necked Grebe

*For a clickable list of bird species and additional information about this project, click here: Birds of Chignik Lake

Birds of Chignik Lake: Pacific Loon

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

A Pacific Loon stretches between dives on a cold winter day. The Pacifics we encountered on Chignik Lake and Chignik River were wintertime visitors and therefore in their more drab plumage. (Chignik River, January 12, 2018)

Pacific Loons are uncommon to occasional wintertime visitors on Chignik Lake and Chignik River. Although they sometimes appear in pairs, they didn’t arrive until well into wintertime and I saw no Pacifics in breeding plumage. As this species is known to nest on the Alaska Peninsula, it is possible that Pacific Loons could be found in spring and summer on Black Lake.

Abundant fish attract loons and other piscivorous birds to The Lake. As with other loons, in wintertime the estuary might be the best place to look for them. (Chignik Lake, December 5, 2017)

Several years before I got into birding (or serious photography), Barbra and I encountered this beautiful specimen in breeding plumage on a pond near Point Hope, Alaska. At the time, I didn’t realize that there is more than one species of loon! (Point Hope, Alaska, August 24, 2012)

Pacific Loon Range Map: with permission from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds of the World

Pacific Loon Gavia pacifica
Order: Gaviiformes
Gavia: sea mew
pacifica: of the Pacific region

Status at Chignik Lake 2016-19: Uncommon/Occasional

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63: Not Observed

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010:
Rare in Spring and Summer; Uncommon in Fall and Winter

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Probably Present but not Documented

Previous Article: Red-throated Loon

Next Article: Common Loon

*For a clickable list of bird species and additional information about this project, click here: Birds of Chignik Lake

Birds of Chignik Lake: Red-throated Loon

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Fine and far off. In fly-fishing, the phrase refers to light tippets and long casts to wary trout. Here it refers to my lone Red-throated Loon sighting on Chignik Lake. It’s difficult to see the eponymous star-like speckling on its back in this photo, but a fine bill angled up slightly, a face showing more white than in other loons, and a smaller, more rounded overall profile add up to Red-throated. A pair of male Red-breasted Mergansers nap to the right on an icy Chignik Lake. (April 1, 2017)

Although Narver regularly encountered Red-throated Loons during his summertime observations in the early 1960’s, I recorded only one specimen during my three years at The Lake. This could reflect that in summertime Red-throateds mainly reside further up the watershed at Black Lake – and possibly breed there -, or it could indicate that in recent years Common Loons have supplanted their smaller cousins in the Chignik Drainage. Except for the breeding season, Red-throated Loons show a decided preference for salt water, so from fall through early spring Chignik Lagoon and nearby ocean waters – areas beyond the scope of this study – might be good places to check for them.

Red-throated in breeding plumage: Photo by David Karnå / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

Red-throated Loon Range Map: with permission from Birds of North America

Red-throated Loon – Gavia stellata
Order: Gaviiformes
Gavia: sea mew
stellata: set with stars

Status at Chignik Lake 2016-19: Rare

Status on other relevant checklists:

David Narver, Birds of the Chignik River Drainage, summers 1960-63:
Common on Black Lake; Occasional on Chignik Lake

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuge Bird List, 2010:
Uncommon in Spring and Summer; Rare in Fall and Winter

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve Bird List: Presence Documented

Previous Article: Loons of Chignik Lake

Next Article: Pacific Loons

*For a clickable list of bird species and additional information about this project, click here: Birds of Chignik Lake

The Loons of Chignik Lake

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Beneath calm, blue skies a group of Common Loons cruise The Lake on a morning in late summer. In addition to Commons, I frequently encountered Pacific Loons. Yellow-billed Loons showed up two of three years, and just one Red-breasted Loon, which David Narver had reported as occasional in his earlier study, made an appearance in those years. Perhaps the estuary or the headwaters at Black Lack would have been a more productive place to look for the latter two species. (Photo: August 20, 2016)

Loons of The Lake

Of all the wild creatures which still persist in the land, despite settlement and civilization, the Loon seems best to typify the untamed savagery of the wilderness.
Edward Howe Forbush, Game Birds, Wild-Fowl and Shore Birds, 1916

Often solitary, mysterious and romantically wild, it seems fitting that this project should begin with genus Gaviidae, the loons. We encountered our initial Chignik loons, a group of four Commons, in early August shortly after our arrival at The Lake. We had made our first hike to the mouth of Clarks River, three miles along quad trails that cut through willow and alder thickets and across rolling tundra, berry bogs and savannah-like meadows. Fireweed, yarrow, geranium and goldenrod were in full bloom, and electric flashes of yellow darting through brushy thickets offered tell-tale signs that warblers hadn’t yet migrated south. Along the way we took note of ripening blueberries, sampled the last of the salmonberries and measured our boots against the tracks of the Chignik’s massive Brown Bears – some of the largest in the world, we had read. Salmon parr flashed in air-clear pools at stream crossings and the prints of foxes, moose, wolves and Sandhill Cranes gave evidence that we were hardly alone in this sweeping landscape rimmed by snow-capped mountains.

Walking in the footsteps of giants. (September 24, 2017)

Two miles into the hike the trail curved down to a sandy lakeside beach. With huge paw prints coursing up and down the shoreline, the beach had the appearances of a Brown Bear superhighway. Vibrations transmitted through the sand by our own footsteps set the shoreline water into rippling motion as schools of salmon flipped their caudal fins and scurried for the safety of deeper water. Out on the lake, a pair of harbor seals popped up and gave us studied looks before slowly sinking out of sight.

This is amazing! we agreed.

Like River Otters, Red Foxes, and Black-capped Chickadees, ever-curious Harbor Seals can’t seem to help but pop up for a look when something new comes into their domain. Chignik Lake’s seals are not strictly lacustrine as tis the Lake Iliamna population. However, in nearly every month there seem to be a few around. (March 9, 2019)

And then we spotted them: loons! Swimming together as they worked along the shoreline and occasionally diving to feed, they seemed unconcerned by our presence . At the time, the notion of making a multi-year study of The Lake’s birds was only barely beginning to form in my mind, and, as luck would have it, I had not brought my camera along on the six-mile round trip hike. Too bad. August was young and the birds were still wearing their distinctive chess-board breeding plumage. Their bright red eyes caught the sunlight as we watched through binoculars.

And then an odd thing happened. The loons began swimming closer to us. And closer. It was as though they were curious. We’ve had foxes, coyotes, otters, ermine, bears, whales, porpoises, Salmon Sharks and even a wolf engage in this behavior, and anyone who has spent time around chickadees knows that they often can’t help themselves from coming in to examine whatever has come into their territory. But loons? The very symbol of wilderness mystique? This was a new one for us. Soon, we no longer needed our binoculars. Even a simple pocket camera might have recorded a decent photograph. The soft morning light was perfect. Barely a ripple creased the lake’s calm surface.

As I bemoaned the fact that I had nothing to shoot with, Barbra consoled me with words of wisdom.

Just pet the whale.

Pet the whale… Nat. Geo. photographer Joel Sartore’s advice to sometimes set the camera aside and enjoy the moment you’re in. What a moment it was. Welcome to Chignik Lake.