Broken-billed Loon

When you look out on Cayuga Lake and see a Common Loon which is missing a third of its lower bill, your first question might be, "How did that happen?" When you see a similarly broken-billed loon some time `in the same area, you would figure, "That's probably the same individual," and you might ask, "How does it survive with such an apparent handicap?" When you see it there a year or more later, you contemplate site fidelity by individual birds outside the breeding range and season. When you keep encountering what appears to be the same bird in the same area a decade later, you have to wonder, "How long do birds of this species live?" Such have been the thought-provoking observations around Myers Point in Lansing.

Below is a history based on postings to the CayugaBirds-L email listserv as summarized in 2006 by Matt Williams and again in the January 2010 Cayuga Bird Club newsletter by Anne Marie Johnson.

Please contribute if you can extend the history, fill in gaps, add details, send a photo, or add a location not close to Myers Point.

-Dave Nutter, 1/12/2012