Non-breeding Loons

[Brian Bailey]

Back on July 4th is was looking out on Chandos Lake (roughly halfway between Peterborough and Bancroft) and saw 8 adult loons swimming together.

My first thought was, wow, 8 loons!  My second thought was 8 loons on July 4th?  They should be tending eggs or rearing young.  It's common to see groups like this in the fall, but not early July.  Maybe they were a group of yearlings, not ready to breed, but my fear is that they were a group of failed nesters.

There are lots of possible explanations, but I have to wonder about the increasing number of big boats and their corresponding big wakes.  

BB

[Leslie]

Actually, I've seen a few non-breeding loons this year, and that's in Algonquin Park, so I don't think we can blame the boaters for this one.
This has been a really weird year, very hot & dry early in the spring, followed by a frost in the Park (so the naturalists tell me) that killed many of the wild flowers.  This was followed by a month of rain.  We paddled up the N. Madawaska River June 25--not far but I've never seen the water so high, & certainly never seen swifts* in what is usually a creek.  The high water may have swamped a few loon nests.

Rant:  There is (at least, there was last week) at least one pair of loons with a chick on Lake of Two Rivers.  One evening at about dusk the parents had the chick out near the middle of the lake when someone with an engine on the boat (up to 10hp is permitted on that lake) roared up to the loons, presumably to show them to his kids.  The parents were really distressed & called loudly to tell the intruder to back off, but he went far too close & stayed for far too long.  I was steamed!

*a descriptive whitewater term indicating difficulty.  Not a reference to a bird.