Of Common Loons and Crystal Lakes
Voice of the wild waters
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Hymn of the Common Loon
Oh peaceful lake, oh crystal lake
We sing this misty morn
So grateful and devoted
To this place where we were born.
Our nests are built upon your shores
We hatch within your reach
Our first steps are towards you
Your protection we beseech.
We are cradled by your waters
Sustained by what's beneath
We rise and fall together
Joined in bounty, and in grief.
When the autumn winds are blowing
We know we must take wing
Although we have to leave you
We'll return again in spring.
In quiet bays and hideaways
We'll build our nests anew
Another generation
Who will sing our songs for you.
We are cradled by your waters
Sustained by what's beneath
We rise and fall together
Joined in bounty, and in grief.
~ Marilyn Anne Campbell
Loons and Lakes
The haunting call of a common loon fills both the air and the imagination. Loons are an icon of the North American wilderness, associated with summer days by woodland lakes. While their elegant black-and-white bodies and striking red eyes are an exciting sight bobbing around in low profile, they save their best moves for under the surface where they glide and dart after fish with ease. When it's time for takeoff common loons need a particularly long runway to get airborne, which is why you never see them in a smaller pond. Built for the water, they really only come on land to nest. Loons migrate out to nearby coasts for the winter months, but they need large lakes flush with fish to raise their families each year.
Just a few weeks ago, Birds Canada released a report summarizing data about common loon nesting success in Canada gathered over the last 40 years. For decades volunteer citizen scientists have monitored their local lakes, tracking how many loon pairs built nests, how many eggs they laid, and how many chicks survived at least six weeks. Sadly, those numbers are trending downwards.
As the report explains, paying attention to the health of loon populations can also tell us about the health of the precious freshwater ecosystems where they raise their young. Because loons are hunters who are high on the food chain, trouble for loons can indicate trouble all the way down the line:
"The lake where a loon chick hatches is typically its only source of food. This means that any changes that decrease the number of fish, like increasing pollution, can cause food shortages for young loons, which hurts their ability to grow and survive, and ultimately reduces their numbers. In addition, ... some pollutants, like mercury, reach higher and higher concentrations as they move up each step in the food chain." ~ Canadian Lakes Loon Survey Report
Shoreline development, the wake caused by speeding boaters, and carelessly discarded fishing line and tackle (particularly lead tackle) can all negatively impact loons, as will the changes caused by the climate crisis.
Loons are a well-loved bird who aren't endangered yet, but we need to protect and restore North America's freshwater rivers and lakes if we want things to stay that way. Read the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey and learn what you can do to help at BirdsCanada.org/loons
Links
There are many other great links on the above Birds Canada page, including to their article "Days of Our Loons: Common Loons Lead Complex Lives" and a nice ten-minute video on YouTube, "Loons of Mount Desert Island, Maine"
Common loons have four types of calls: the wail, the tremolo, the yodel, and the hoot. Listen to the difference on the Nature Canada blog "The Common Loon: What Are They Saying?"
Watch some loons swimming around in this underwater footage from the Thousands Islands area of New York (there's nearly a camera boop at 1:08!)
Read an overview of the Common Loon on All About Birds, a great website run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Of course loons are most prominent in daily life in Canada as the image that gives the one dollar coin its name, featured in a design by artist Robert-Ralph Carmichael. Revisit the 1987 introduction of the loonie in the CBC archive
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Thanks for reading,
Marilyn & Steve
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