Join Whidbey Audubon Society field trip leaders and Deception Pass Park staff on Saturday to see the largest gathering of birds Whidbey has to offer.

Sarah Schmidt and Steve Ellis will lead the free event through Deception Pass to see hundreds of red-throated loons, the smallest of the loon family.

“We’ve got the swans and the snow geese over on the Skagit Flats, and if you go up to the Samish Flats, there are a lot of raptors, hawks, eagles. This is right up there,” Ellis said. “One of the biggest congregations of interesting birds. This just doesn’t happen anywhere else.”

Biologists counted 1,300 loons this year, Ellis said, a number the congregation has not reached since the early ‘90s.

Red-throated loons are a ducklike seabird with a long, curvy neck and a thin, daggerlike bill. Breeding adults are grayish brown above, pale below, with a rusty patch on their throat.

The red-throated loon is smaller than the common loon one might see in the Midwest, Ellis said. With so many congregated, it’s all the more impressive.

The spectacle doesn’t happen anywhere else in the state, he said.

Loons feed on the surf smelt pushing through Deception Pass, which don’t swim in great schools like herring. This time of year, the shape of the pass bottlenecks the smelt, which the loons take advantage of.

Red-throated loons typically appear for the Salish Sea’s smelt toward the end of December and stay through February. When the smelt dwindle in March, the loons follow suit, moving up north to the Arctic for the warmer months.

To attend the field trip, meet at the north end of West Beach parking lot of Deception Pass State Park at 9 a.m. on Jan. 25. The trip will explore the beach and spot other birds and wildlife too.

Trip leaders advise bringing water and a snack and a spotting scope or binoculars if applicable. Dress warmly, and prepare for wind.

The trip is accessible, and there won’t be much walking. Cars need a Discover Pass to park.

To carpool, meet at 7:30 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Park and Ride in Freeland, 8:00 a.m. at Prairie Station Transit Park in Coupeville or 8:30 a.m. at Walgreen’s in Oak Harbor. Carpoolers will need to organize themselves.

With questions, call or text Sarah Schmidt at 360-929-3592.