Date: 11/3/25 10:39 pm From: Doug Ward via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: [inland-NW-birders] Loons, loons, and more loons-Lake Coeur d'Alene
Walked the dogs before the rains today (Mon, 3 Nov'25) at Silver Beach on the north eastern shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene (Kootenai Co.,ID). Not too eventful other than we had a few COMMON LOONs, so decided to continue the drive out East Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive to Higgins Point to see if there were more loons along the way. Well, there were more loons, a lot more! All toll we had sixty-seven (67) Common Loons at four different spots (Silver Beach, Bennett Bay, Osprey Pt and Higgins Pt) making sure we weren't double counting. This total was by far the highest count I've ever had in this stretch. Combining today's experience with having over forty (42) at Bennett Bay a week ago (25 Oct'25) - some of today's numbers likely holdovers - and the 74 back in mid-September on Lake Pend Oreille (Bonner Co., ID; see INWBirders post dated 18 Sept'25), this has been a remarkable year for Common Loon migration in North Idaho.
In addition to all the loons, a small flock (12) of BARROW'S GOLDENEYEs (plus a couple of COMMONs) are back, and a few BALD EAGLEs have arrived at Higgins Point, so the time to keep checking this section of the lake is here. Give it a try between showers this week, the loon spectacle alone is worth the trip.
