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A visit from a rare, fine-feathered tourist on the Las Vegas Strip interrupted a hotel-casino\u2019s prominent water show before wildlife biologists captured the yellow-billed loon and relocated it Wednesday, unharmed, to an unspecified remote location where they expect it to resume its migratory trek north.<\/p>\n
The Bellagio said in a\u00a0social media post<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday that it paused its fountains after the loon \u201cfound comfort on Las Vegas\u2019 own Lake Bellagio.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the bird was removed by the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the resort\u2019s music and choreographed water-spray show resumed in the afternoon, MGM Resorts International<\/a> spokesperson Brian Ahern said.<\/p>\n The\u00a0yellow-billed loon<\/a>\u00a0is an international species of concern that is considered to be \u201cone of the 10 rarest birds that regularly breed on the mainland U.S.,\u201d according to the National Park Service.<\/p>\n Initially, the fountain shows were paused while officials figured out how to proceed, Ahern said.<\/p>\n Concerned birders asked state wildlife officials to intervene, department spokesperson Doug Nielsen said. The bird, a juvenile, likely sought shelter from a storm, Nielsen said, noting that it isn\u2019t uncommon for migratory birds to visit the valley.<\/p>\n \u201cThey normally nest around the Arctic Circle and winter in Canada, the U.S., Norway or Siberia,\u201d said Kurt Buzard, a veteran bird spotter who said he believes he saw the same distinctive bird a week ago at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve southeast of Las Vegas. \u201cI think it\u2019s lost and probably disoriented.\u201d<\/p>\n Buzard said the last time he remembered hearing about a yellow-billed loon in southern Nevada was in the late 1990s at the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nye County, northwest of Las Vegas.<\/p>\n He worried that because neither the man-made lake at the Bellagio nor the former municipal water treatment pond at the Henderson preserve had fish, the bird he saw would be too hungry to continue its migratory path.<\/p>\n Security officials working with the wildlife biologists initially had hoped the uninvited guest would leave on its own without requiring an escort.<\/p>\n But Nielsen said in an email to The Associated Press that they decided Wednesday morning to capture and relocate the bird \u201cto a more suitable and remote location where it has space, food and quiet surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the biologist who oversaw the capture, the bird had no apparent injuries and appeared to be in good health,\u201d the state wildlife department official said.<\/p>\n Nielsen said birds sometimes get a bit off course during their annual migration due to such things as heavy winds or poor weather conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe important thing at this point is the bird is where it has an opportunity to get reoriented and resume its northern migration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to Impact Report, a weekly newsletter on the trends and issues shaping corporate sustainability. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n