{"id":142718,"date":"2025-04-07T02:37:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T07:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=142718"},"modified":"2025-07-07T12:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T17:34:11","slug":"spring-common-loon-memories-the-aba-bird-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/04\/07\/spring-common-loon-memories-the-aba-bird-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Common Loon Memories &#8211; The ABA Bird Of The Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today I\u2019m sharing a spring Common Loon photo I took exactly two years ago, on a chilly morning at a pond near where I lived back then in Salt Lake County, Utah.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-142715 size-full\" title=\"Spring Common Loon going into breeding plumage, Willow Pond Park, Salt Lake County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751.jpg\" alt=\"Spring Common Loon going into breeding plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Spring Common Loon going into breeding plumage \u2013 Nikon D500, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>My dear friend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PeacefuL801\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Shane<\/span><\/a> found the first loon and shared it with me, and later on I had a few great sessions photographing the loons at that pond with my other dear friend, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/april.olson.142\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">April<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This particular Common Loon, the first one, hadn&#8217;t quite reached full breeding plumage when it visited the local pond. I didn\u2019t mind one bit. I was simply thrilled to have this gorgeous waterbird in my viewfinder for several days.<\/p>\n<p>The winter before the loons arrived had been especially snowy, particularly in the high country where many ponds, lakes, and reservoirs were still frozen over during migration.<\/p>\n<p>That meant the spring Common Loons dropped into the valley, where open water gave them a chance to fish and refuel before continuing on to their breeding grounds.<\/p>\n<p>I zealously took thousands of photos of the loons that visited the pond, and I\u2019m extremely glad I did. Just a few weeks later, my life began to take a different turn with my mother\u2019s health declining and her eventual passing.<\/p>\n<p>By this time last year, I was seeing Utah in my rearview mirror, and my opportunities to photograph loons so close to home had disappeared.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"100\" data-end=\"141\"><strong data-start=\"100\" data-end=\"141\">Common Loon: The ABA Bird of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"143\" data-end=\"383\">In my opinion, the ABA (American Birding Association) picked an outstanding bird for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aba.org\/2025-aba-bird-of-the-year-common-loon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2025&#8217;s Bird of the Year<\/span><\/a>. Common Loons are striking visually, their calls touch something deep inside us, and they are fascinating and sometimes mysterious!<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/common-loon-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Common Loon photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today I\u2019m sharing a spring Common Loon photo I took exactly two years ago\u2014on a chilly morning at a pond near where I lived back then in Salt Lake County, Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,3527,709,26],"tags":[4004,4053,3528,5423,3529,16370,10578,3531,10698,1984,165,8018,3996,5123,16369],"class_list":["post-142718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-loons","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-common-loon","tag-floating","tag-gavia-immer","tag-going-into","tag-loon","tag-loons","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-spring","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterbirds","tag-willow-pond-park"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/common-loon-almost-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson1751.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-B7U","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":127322,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/07\/looking-back-common-loon-photos-from-spring-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":142718,"position":0},"title":"Looking Back: Common Loon Photos from Spring 2023","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been a year since I was surprised and delighted to be able to take tons of Common Loon photos at a pond close to where I live in Salt Lake County.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Loon stopping over on spring migration, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-1274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-1274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-1274.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-1274.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":112910,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/25\/common-loon-seeing-red\/","url_meta":{"origin":142718,"position":1},"title":"Common Loon &#8211; Seeing Red","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I'm sharing a Common Loon photo that I took two days ago. I enjoy how the red eyes of the loon were echoed in the reflections on the water.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Loon - Seeing Red, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-seeing-red-mia-mcpherson-0065.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-seeing-red-mia-mcpherson-0065.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-seeing-red-mia-mcpherson-0065.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-seeing-red-mia-mcpherson-0065.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119283,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/22\/common-loon-checking-me-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":142718,"position":2},"title":"Common Loon Checking Me Out","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I am not feeling up to par, so I am sharing a single Common Loon photo that I took in April at my local pond. They are gorgeous birds.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Common Loon checking me out, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-loon-adult-checking-me-out-mia-mcpherson-4110.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-loon-adult-checking-me-out-mia-mcpherson-4110.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-loon-adult-checking-me-out-mia-mcpherson-4110.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-loon-adult-checking-me-out-mia-mcpherson-4110.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":112705,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/18\/dark-and-moody-common-loon-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":142718,"position":3},"title":"Dark And Moody Common Loon Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The dark and moody nature of the Common Loon has made this bird species a popular subject of mythology and folklore.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Loon in a natural spotlight, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7445.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138438,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/03\/common-loon-the-2025-aba-bird-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":142718,"position":4},"title":"Common Loon: The 2025 ABA Bird of the Year","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, the American Birding Association announced that the Common Loon is the 2025 ABA Bird of the Year, and I was so excited. I love these striking loons!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Common Loons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Common Loons","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/grebes\/common-loons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Migrating Common Loon stopping over, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/common-loon-aba-bird-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7951.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/common-loon-aba-bird-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7951.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/common-loon-aba-bird-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7951.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/common-loon-aba-bird-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7951.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":112643,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/15\/crazy-about-common-loons\/","url_meta":{"origin":142718,"position":5},"title":"Crazy About Common Loons","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I didn't go out looking for Common Loons. But I found two and they were fighting, calling, preening and getting up close and personal with me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Portrait of a Common Loon in breeding plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/common-loon-spring-migration-mia-mcpherson-3697.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}