Loon Watch 1999 - Part 3

Donna Love at a loon talk with loon costume for a youngster.

May 25, 2000
Seeley Swan Pathfinder
Seeley Lake, Montana

By Donna Love

(Editor's note: the following report by Donna Love on loons and their nesting habits and population in the Seeley Swan Chain of Lakes is the final installmnet of a three-part series.)

The Pea Green Boat

After counting loons we returned home to find Pat Dolan, a biologist for the Forest Service and Marcia Dunn, of KUFM radio watching loons on Seeley. Marcia was gathering information for her children's program, The Pea Green Boat. Because a sunny, warm weekend always increases water recreation, fishermen had displaced the loon family from their nursery area. They found a calm place near the Forest Service dock. Standing on the hill above the dock we had ringside seats to the loons while Marcia interviewed us for her show. The adult loons swirled in tight circles in an alert position with the chicks between them. They could not feed or rest all afternoon. Boats frequently frightened them. This sent them into their various distress calls of tremolos and wails. Marsha was able to tape their calls. Later, Lynn arrived and was also interviewed. Marsha had enough information to dedicate a whole week of one-hour shows to the needs of Montana's loons. The show aired in August and reached hundreds of children. It was a terrible day for the loons, but a great day for loon education.

Tools of the Trade

Pat and Lynn both had their telescopes with them. They were able to verify that neither of the adult loons was banded. That was important. In 1998 when I reported that I might have seen a band on the female I was wrong. I couldn't have seen a band for the adult female banded on July 7 in 1997 was found dead at Sand Island, CA in August of 1998. It was suspected that it did not migrate due to ill health or injury. This means that in 1998 we did not have a banded female on the lake. Without bands it is impossible to know (without expensive DNA testing) if the same birds returned this year. I learned an important lesson. Using binoculars to look for bands is not enough. This year the Forest Service generously allowed me to use one of their field scopes for the summer.

Loon banding is an important management tool. The MLS would like to band 10 percent of Montana's loons or about 20 birds. At the present we have banded 13. Banding is expensive, because the biologists come from Maine, but it is revealing much needed information. The Alva Lake adult female banded on July 9, 1996 was found alive and watched for a month from March 10 until mid April at Morro Bay, CA. Then she returned to Alva to nest. Finding both the Seeley Lake female and the Alva Lake female in California is significant. We can now say with some certainty that our loons winter off the coast of California. Until now we did not know for sure where they spent their winters.

Get the Lead Out

In early August a family vacationing at their cabin on Placid Lake reported that one of the loons had what looked like a fishing lure attached to it. Bill Koppen, the local game warden arranged a night tour of the lake on August 6 to see if we could get close enough to see the problem and possibly capture the loon. We did not find the loons that night. Lynn, unavailable during this time, later speculated that since both adult loons on Placid are banded the bands might have been mistaken for lures. Bill and Barry Cummings, the Water Recreation Specialist, made another attempt to find the problem on Personal Watercraft during the daytime on Sunday, August 8. They couldn't find a problem, but they reported that there was only one chick. A return trip to the lake on August 19 also revealed only one chick. It is not known what happened to the other one.

This episode illustrates an important point. Loons can get caught in wads of fishing line and can also catch lures in their mouth. It is important that fishermen keep their fishing line picked up and that they use steel sinkers instead of lead. Lead ingested by loons (or other waterfowl) can cause lead poisoning, which disrupts the nervous system effecting the birds' ability to fly, feed or breed. Steel sinkers are becoming readily available in many sporting good stores.

Formation Flying

If you want to see a flying loon, go to Alva Lake on an August morning. With three lakes in close proximity they come and go from the lake all morning. There you will see why loons are called the "Concorde" of birds. Like the jet they fly fast cruising at 100 miles per hour with continual swift wingbeats. They can't swoop and soar like birds that hunt for their food in the air nor can they make quick turns and dives like birds that catch their food in flight. They fly straight to their destination. Because they are built for living on water they only have enough flight feathers to get airborne. If even three of these feathers are damaged they can not take off.

Last fall on Rogers Lake near Kalispell a stranded loon with damaged flight feathers could not migrate. The icy waters of the lake closed in on it. Residents of the lake used chainsaws to cut through the ice to get to the loon. By spotlighting it at night they caught it. The loon was released at Somers Bay on Flathead Lake, which doesn't freeze over. Hopefully, the loon will be able to survive the winter until its spring molt when it will grow a new set of flight feathers.

Olympic Swimmers

By August Seeley's chicks had become known as Bold Baby and Clingy Baby because the larger chick was always off on its own while the smaller one rarely left Mama's side.

On the morning of August 26 Clingy Baby and Mama were feeding near the Ranger Station. Bold Baby was in the middle of the lake. A ski boat traveled up the lake from the south. Mama dove and came up with a fish. She hurriedly paddled to the nursery area above the canoe landing (about a fourth a mile) with the fish held firmly in her mouth. Clingy Baby followed trying to get at the fish. When they got to the nursery area, Mama gave the fish to Clingy and dove coming up next to Bold Baby. She tricked the second chick into following her the same way. By the time the boat arrived, both babies were safe in the nursery. I do not know how fast loons can swim underwater. Judging from this, it must be very fast.

Snow Birds

Labor Day Weekend is always a trial for the loons. We were away so we couldn't watch how they faired. When we returned the chicks were fine. The adult male was no longer around, but he had been an attentive father all summer, not leaving as much as last year's male had. We suspect that was because there were two chicks this year and his help was necessary.

With the arrival of fall, Mama's lovely black and white breeding plumage changed to gray and white. The change will help protect her on her ocean winter home from orca whales and sharks, which eat loons. To prepare for migration the loon chicks began flying lessons. Loon books say that loon chicks don't engage in playful activity. But on one September morning Bold Baby looked like he was thoroughly enjoying flight school.

Loony Meeting

On September 26 the Montana Loon Society's annual meeting was held in Polson. It had been a busy year for the Society. In March Lynn had been named Wildlife Biologist of the Year by the Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society at their annual meeting in Bozeman.

In cooperation with MFWP, the Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Avista Corporation, and the American Bird Conservancy, the Society will be hiring a "Loon Ranger" this summer. The position is a student internship through Montana universities or colleges. The job, which is centered in Seeley, will include loon education, management of sanctuary signs and analysis of data. The Loon Ranger will work from June to August. If you have a chance to meet the new Loon Ranger tell them how much you appreciate what they are doing for Montana's loons.

The Society also wrote and produced a new Boater-Education Brochure titled "Responsible Watercraft Use and Montana's Loons." The brochure explains the various ways that careless boaters can harm loons and offers specific instructions on how to avoid disturbing nesting loons and nurseries. Individuals or groups interested in obtaining a copy of this brochure or to receive membership information can contact the Montana Loon Society at 406-677-3767. Membership is $15.00 a year. New members will receive a membership packet of information on loons. Membership fees are used for loon management and education. A combined Membership to the MLS and the North American Loon Fund (NALF), the international organization for loons can be obtained at a special low rate of $35.00 per individual (a savings of $5.00). New members to NALF will receive their wonderful poster that describes the various behaviors of loons and their needs.

Last Loon Calls

In October we were still seeing our loons. On Columbus Day, October 11, all three loons were swimming together when a canoe approached them. One of the loons began to call a weak yodel meaning that at least one of the chicks was a male, perhaps Bold Baby.

On October 15 we had our first snow. Ducks and geese began to return in large numbers. Mama loon still protected her chicks. A flock of migrating ducks circled and mistook the loons for friendly folk. When the ducks landed beside the loon family Mama rose up in her "penguin dance" and ran across the water charging the ducks. It is easy to see why a loon lake is not a duck lake.

We saw the three loons for the last time on October 22. When loons migrate they do not fly in formation. They travel in small groups of 10 to 15 birds that loosely stay together occasionally calling to each other. They fly during the day and raft up on large bodies of water at night to feed and rest with other migrating loons. Our chicks will stay on the ocean for at least three years. If they survive they will return to Montana and take their place in the breeding process. When they return it is hoped that they will find places on Montana's lakes suitable for their nesting needs. Our job is to make sure that they still can.

To learn more contact the Montana Loon Society or come to the Seeley Lake Loon and Fish Festival on Memorial Weekend, May 27 and 28.