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Las Vegas is a city known for its neon-splashed, round-the-clock debauchery, a modern monument to excess in the middle of the stark Mojave Desert. Walk the streets of Las Vegas, and you'll find clueless tourists, street performers, promoters, and hustlers trying to scam anyone who will give them the time of day. It's an incredible city for people-watching, yet it's not exactly the place you'd go looking for rare wildlife.
Yet against all odds, one of the most iconic hotels in Sin City became an unexpected haven for bird watchers this past week when a very rare species of bird flew into town for a visit. Here's what people saw:
That unassuming little water bird is the yellow-billed loon, and according to @abcworldnews , it's one of the top 10 rarest birds in the United States. Supposedly blown off of its migration path by recent winter storms in the Sierra Nevadas , this little loon flew all the way to Las Vegas, finding shelter in the world-famous water fountains outside the Bellagio Hotel and Casino !
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The Bellagio resort, welcoming this "most exclusive of guests," temporarily paused their water fountain show until state wildlife officials could rescue the loon and help get the bird back on track. After its unexpected Vegas vacation, the yellow-billed loon is back in the wild, and the Bellagio fountains are roaring in full force once more.
About the Yellow-Billed Loon
Most of the year, you won't see these elusive birds in Las Vegas, Nevada, or anywhere south of the Canadian border. According to Audubon.org, the yellow-billed loon spends its summers in the Arctic tundra of Alaska and northern Canada, and winters slightly further south but typically still above the US border. Yellow-billed loons can fly down into the US for the winter, but Audubon.org notes that this is uncommon, and that those who do are usually single, immature birds like this one. Even with as mild as the weather is in Las Vegas right now, this trip was practically a tropical vacation for this little bird!
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the yellow-billed loon's status is " warranted but precluded ," meaning that it meets the criteria for placement on the Endangered Species List but isn't officially on there due to "higher priority cases." In Alaska, habitat loss and reduction of prey due to overfishing threaten the yellow-billed loon, threatening to make sightings of this rare bird even rarer. It's a sad reality that faces many other animals. Even though this bird isn't officially on the books yet as an endangered species, the staff of the Bellagio and Nevada wildlife officials handled this unexpected visit masterfully and made sure that their "loony" guest was well cared for!
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