**This loon was hatched on June 6, 2021, and banded on July 12, 2021, at Swan Lake in northeast Washington and now spends its winters in Yaquina Bay, according to records associated with its band.** (Photo by Roy W. Lowe)

Wildlife photographer Roy Lowe of Waldport recently spotted a color-banded common loon in Yaquina Bay – and the band told him it was the same loon he observed in the bay in November 2024.

**Bands on birds, including this common loon photographed last month in Yaquina Bay, help researchers understand where birds are during various seasons of the year.** (Photo by Roy E. Lowe)

By tracing the band, Lowe found that the loon hatched on June 6, 2021, and was banded on July 12, 2021, at Swan Lake in northeast Washington near the community of Republic. The researchers who banded this bird have named it the “Newport Loon” as it was first observed in Yaquina Bay in 2022, twice in 2024, and then again by Lowe in December 2025. These observations provide important information on the site fidelity that common loons exhibit in wintering locations, Lowe said.

“I started taking burst of photos each time I sensed the loon was about to dive hoping to see if it had bands on its legs and eventually, I captured photos that showed them,” Lowe said. “During the one-hour period I observed this bird, it consumed six juvenile Dungeness crabs and twice drove another common loon away from its foraging area.”