Common Loon (Gavia immer) Audubon, 1833. Courtesy of the National Audubon Society. (Plate 409 in Audubon's book, "Birds of America.")
2018 Clearwater/Blackfoot Loon Chick Count at a Glance To quickly see how our Blackfoot and Clearwater loon neighbors fared last year, take a look at the chart (right). Bumps and dips naturally occur in loon numbers. Nationally, one in four nests fails naturally. In Montana, flood years are a major cause in the drop in chicks, but not all areas flood the same year. It is only cause for concern if numbers drop and drop without bounce-back. Even with these dips and rises on local lakes, chick numbers in Montana have remained roughly the same with an average forty-one chicks per year, which is considered a viable loon population. 2018 was a slightly above average year with fifty chicks that survived in the state until the July Loon Day count and are assumed to have migrated in autumn.
Prior to John James Audubon's birth in 1785, not much was known about bird migration. Some people believed birds went underground in winter, hibernating like bears. Some thought waterfowl spent the winter under the ice. Others believed birds turned into other birds in winter. One silly scientist even suggested birds flew to the moon in autumn and returned in spring.
In 1805, Audubon discovered a cave where eastern phoebes returned to nest each spring. He tied silver thread around the legs of three chicks. The next spring two of the chicks returned. All around the world people had been banding birds to show ownership, but when Audubon tied that silver thread around those chicks' legs, he became the first to band American birds for scientific purposes.
On July 9, 1833, while in Labrador, Canada on a birding expedition, Audubon wrote in his journal, "I have drawn all day at the Loon, a most difficult bird to imitate."
Later, Audubon finished his common loon illustration showing two loons. One loon in breeding plumage is standing in a nest. The swimming loon is an adult in winter plumage. It has a red eye, so we know this is an adult loon. A chick hatches with brownish-yellow eyes. After a chick's first migration to the coast in autumn, it mostly stays on its ocean home for two full years. (Chicks have been spotted on inland lakes up and down the coastline, but these inland forays aren't their full migration back to their natal area). At the start of its third summer, a chick grows adult breeding plumage and its eye turns red. Then it returns to its natal area to find a mate and eventually breed at between five and seven years old. Loons continue their migrations back and forth to the coast for the rest of their 20 to 25 years of life.
However, in Montana for a long time, people did not know where Montana's common loons spent the winter. In 1996, the Montana Loon Society (MLS), with the help of Biodiversity Research Institute in Maine, banded the first loons in Montana to learn where our birds went in winter, and to learn where they returned to in spring. Although MLS could not (and still can't) band every unbanded bird every summer on every lake, we have supported the ongoing banding work completed by the Common Loon Working Group, which began in 1999. The map is not all the information gathered over the years, but it shows some interesting banding results and provides an overview. It is now evident that Montana's loons winter on the Pacific Coast from Canada to central California. (We do not know the cause of death for the loons that were found dead.)
So, why did Audubon illustrate his common loons in both winter and summer plumage? Audubon later wrote that he drew the bird in winter plumage from a mounted specimen that had been shot several years before. From this it is evident, that by 1833, people understood that loons migrate and that when they do, they change colors from their black and white summer plumage to the dull gray of the winter plumage. (Information from Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon for The Birds of America, American Heritage Publishing,1966.)
While we love our Montana loons, we know they are "snowbirds" that spend half of their lives away from us. We appreciate our loon friends that keep track of our loons while they are on their winter home.
For more information about Montana's loons and banding program visit Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks: http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/commonLoon/
Blackfoot/Clearwater (Ovando/Seeley Lake)
Story Loon Ranger Keely Benson
Montana had a relatively normal loon season last year with some areas of flooding. In the Blackfoot/Ovando area, three lakes were monitored that have had nesting attempts during previous years. Last year two lakes were used for nesting. Upsata was successful, hatching two chicks with one chick that survived.
In the Seeley Lake/Clearwater area nine lakes were monitored with four nesting attempts and all four were successful hatching chicks. Five chicks hatched and five chicks survived. It is recommended that Clearwater Lake needs the buoys placed before nesting season. Placid Lake has a female loon that was banded as an adult in 1996, which is the very first year that the Montana Loon Society banded any loons. With a mate that is half her age, she is now our "Cougar" loon. Together this pair nested and hatched one chick that survived. This combined area had 6 chicks.
Swan Geographic Area
Story Sage Staven/ Mark Ruby
Nine lakes were monitored in the Swan Geographic Area with 3 nesting attempts. One chick hatched and survived!! That is 100 percent chick survival, but only one chick. Loon Lake Kraft Creek attempted, but they abandoned or got predated. Lori Micken helped monitor loons on Pierce Lake. The pair attempted, but was not successful. That lake is a forest service lease area with several new lessees. Lindbergh Lake platform needs more vegetation. Developed recreation is picking up around Van Lake so that could create future issues for that pair. So, only one chick was counted on July Loon Day in this area.
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