Comments on: Thinking skeptically about loons

By: AnneH

AnneH — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:00:12 +0000

I live in Maine, but my experience with loons is very limited. The best contribution I can make is a link to a pamphlet about loons that the Maine Audubon Society has published. It might be more current than your books. Here is the PDF:
http://www.maineaudubon.org/resource/f_living_with_loons.pdf

They are magnificent creatures, certainly. The first time I head a loon’s call was while I was camping by a fog-bound lake, at night, when everything else was completely still. It was a very memorable experience. I shiver at the recollection, more than 20 years later. 🙂

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:45:59 +0000

Thought this was going to be an article on religion 🙂

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:29:01 +0000

Two years ago we actually had wooducks doing the mating ritual behind the cabin in a small inlet we call “the lagoon.”

By: DD

DD — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:20:52 +0000

Yodeling? I thought is was loonoolooialating. oooops.

By: Bee

Bee — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:58:41 +0000

I live on a very small lake which is only separated from a much larger lake by a couple hundred metres of broad slow stream. At least two pairs of loons nest on the larger lake, but they do their early mating rituals on this lake – maybe it looks more impressive on a smaller stage. I always assumed the ‘broken wing’ display was to impress the girl.

Our local loons don’t do a lot of yodelling through the nesting period. When they seem to step it up is when the young ones have fledged, which is also when they come back to the small lake with the young ones and do a lot of fishing.

Leaving the loons for a bit, we get common mergansers stopping on our lake right after the ice melts. They fish and court, and there are few birds as amusing to watch in courtship than mergansers. When a female dives to fish, the usual two or three males that have been following her closely don’t dive, but stick their heads underwater. You can tell by their synchronized swivelling necks that they are watching her every move. When she surfaces, there’s a frantic thrashing flurry as each male tries to reach her first.

By: Katkinkate

Katkinkate — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:13:41 +0000

I know other birds do the ‘broken wing’ behaviour to divert threats from their young. I’ve seen them do it in response to me getting too close. It could be the earlier loonologists saw the mating display you described and misinterpreted it as an anti-predator rather than mating display because it fit their knowledge of other birds and no-one bothered to follow-up. There must be a lot of wrong information published from studies that have never been replicated. There’s just so much to study and so little funding.

By: qetzal

qetzal — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:16:44 +0000

If you listen closely, you can hear the loons arguing:

“Duck season!”

“Rabbit season!”

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:10:55 +0000

I think this loon is trying to get the duck. So far, though, I’ve not seen a loon swimming around with a duck skewered on its beak.

By: Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:08:41 +0000

“every time I turn around there is a loon either watching me fish, yodeling off in the distance”

That’s nothing compared to who posts here.

“Now, I’m not a loon expert … or loon-ologist”

They’re called “loonsperts” (… “you insensitive clod!”).

(:-) for the humor-impaired. But I wonder about the “secondary anti-predator behavior”: do they actually strike one of the ducks, or do they just shoot out of the water in the middle of the group?