Recovered rare yellow-billed loon released off San Pedro coastline
A rare Yellow-billed Loon found entangled in fishing line off San Pedro in the L.A. Harbor has recovered and was released back into the wild on Tuesday, Jan. 30, by International Bird Rescue. (Photo by Ariana Gastelum, Courtesy International Bird Rescue, Russ Curtis)
The recovered Yellow-billed Loon was released Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 30, 2024, outside the breakwater of Los Angeles Harbor. Kylie Clatterbuck, left, of Bird Rescue’s Los Angeles Center Manager, and Jules Léon from Marine Mammal Care Center. (Photo by Ariana Gastelum, International Bird Rescue)
Rare Yellow-billed Loon following release into waters off San Pedro on Jan. 30, 2024, by International Bird Rescue which nursed the creature back to health after finding it entangled in fishing line. (Photo by Ariana Gastelum, International Bird Rescue)
Yellow-billed Loon was spotted entangled in fishing line near Cabrillo Beach Pier on Jan. 19, 2024. After recovering at the International Bird Rescue Center Los Angeles Center, the loon was released back into the wild on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (Photo by Naresh Satyan)
Veterinarian Rebecca Duerr examines a rare Yellow-billed Loon brought in to the International Bird Rescue Los Angeles in San Pedro after the creature was found entangled in fishing line. The bird recovered and was released back into the wild on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (Photo by Ariana Gastelum, International Bird Rescue)
A rare Yellow-billed Loon found entangled in fishing line off San Pedro in the L.A. Harbor has recovered and was released back into the wild on Tuesday, Jan. 30, by International Bird Rescue. (Photo by Ariana Gastelum, Courtesy International Bird Rescue, Russ Curtis)
A rare Yellow-billed Loon, a bird that only occasionally ventures south of Canada, was being treated at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro after being found tangled in fishing line near the Cabrillo Beach Pier. The Yellow-billed Loon has a light colored bill compared with a Common Loon. (Contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)
A rare Yellow-billed Loon, a bird that only occasionally ventures south of Canada, was being treated at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro after being found tangled in fishing line near the Cabrillo Beach Pier. The Yellow-billed Loon has a light colored bill compared with a Common Loon on the left. (Contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)
A rare Yellow-billed Loon, a bird that only occasionally ventures south of Canada, was being treated at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro after being found tangled in fishing line near the Cabrillo Beach Pier. The Yellow-billed Loon has a light colored bill compared with a Common Loon. (Contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)
A rare Yellow-billed Loon, a bird that only occasionally ventures south of Canada, was being treated at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro after being found tangled in fishing line near the Cabrillo Beach Pier. The Yellow-billed Loon has a light colored bill compared with a Common Loon. (Contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)
A rare Yellow-billed Loon, a bird that only occasionally ventures south of Canada, was being treated at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro after being found tangled in fishing line near the Cabrillo Beach Pier. The Yellow-billed Loon has a light colored bill compared with a Common Loon on the left. (Contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)
A rare Yellow-billed Loon, a bird that only occasionally ventures south of Canada, was being treated at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro after being found tangled in fishing line near the Cabrillo Beach Pier. The Yellow-billed Loon has a light colored bill compared with a Common Loon. (Contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)
A rare yellow-billed loon found entangled in a fishing line near the Cabrillo Beach Pier in Los Angeles Harbor was released this week after recovering at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro.
The bird, rarely seen in Southern California, was released back into the wild on Tuesday morning, Jan.30.
“This magnificent bird successfully completed its rehabilitation and has been released at sea, thanks to our friends at Marine Mammal Care Center,” JD Bergeron, CEO of the International Bird Rescue, said in a Wednesday news release.
With the assistance of the Marine Mammal Care Center, which operates next door to the bird rehab facility, the loon was transported and released by boat just outside the breakwater in Los Angeles Harbor, off San Pedro’s Cabrillo Beach.
The yellow-billed loon only occasionally ventures south of Canada. This one was spotted on Jan. 19 off Cabrillo Beach with fishing gear wrapped around its body and wings, according to International Bird Rescue.
The entanglements resulted in limited mobility for the creature, which is listed as a near-threatened species.
The loons spend their summers on high Arctic tundra and winters off wild northern shores.
Local Audubon members sent out a rare bird alert in mid-January after it was spotted in the L.A. Harbor area.
When the bird was brought in, clinic staffers discovered wounds on both its wings, as well as on the sides of its mouth.
The bird recovered in a pelagic deep-water pool alongside another waterbird, a common loon, which also was found entangled in fishing line.
Donations can be made to the nonprofit center located in Angels Gate Park in San Pedro to help pay for the care of the injured, sick and orphaned waterbirds that are rescued and brought there. Go to birdrescue.org/donate.
