The Pacific Loon is the most common breeding loon in Arctic Alaska, nesting throughout muchof the state (Russell 2002). This species typically breeds on lakes that are ≥1 ha in size in bothboreal and tundra habitats. They are primarily piscivorous although they are known to commonlyfeed chicks invertebrates (D. Rizzolo and J. Schmutz, unpublished data). Many Pacific Loonsspend their winters in offshore waters of the west coast of Canada and the U.S. (Russell 2002).The most recent Alaska population estimate is 100-125,000 individuals (Ruggles and Tankersley1992) with ~ 69,500 on the Arctic Coastal Plain specifically (Groves et al. 1996).
