Surprises in loon life on the lake

Nature never stops to amaze me! After 40 years of fieldwork, capturing events and species in nature with my camera and audio recordings, it is tempting to think you have seen it all or, worse yet, know it all.

But Mother Nature is always showing me that no one person can know it all or have seen or experienced everything. Understanding that Mother Nature is too complicated and diverse to ever completely understand is the first step to having a deeper understanding of nature.

For over 20 years, I have been spending upwards of four weeks straight on my boat photographing and studying the nesting, egg laying, chick hatching, and raising of common loon babies. I log countless hours on the water with about a dozen nesting pairs of loons, so it is tempting to feel like I have seen it all.

That was until last week.

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The common loon (Gavia immer) is a large aquatic bird and a symbol of the Northwoods and lakes of northern states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Maine. The adults in breeding plumage are a stunning black-and-white combination that shines an iridescent green or blue in direct sunlight. The males and females have the same plumage and are often difficult to tell apart. The male is anywhere from 10% to 20% larger than the female. The male has a larger, more squared-off head and a thicker, heavier bill than the female. Sometimes it is so difficult to tell them apart that you need to see the two adults side by side to perceive the differences.

Loons return to the lakes where they were hatched or where they successfully nested the year before. Courtship between the pair is subtle, without any exaggerated activities. The female chooses the nest site, which is often on the edge of the shoreline, usually in thick vegetation. A pile of last year’s aquatic vegetation serves as the nest site.

It is not uncommon for loons to nest on small islands or to take advantage of human-made nesting platforms. Amazingly these human-made floating platforms are preferred over natural shoreline nesting locations.

The common loon only nests once per season. They lay only two eggs, which they incubate for nearly a month. As soon as the chicks hatch, they leave the nest and swim around with the parents. It is typical to see a pair of loons with two tiny chicks. The babies are very small and are often preyed upon by predators such as snapping turtles, muskies, northern pike, and even bald eagles. About two or three weeks after the young hatch, it is very common to see adults with just one chick.

About 50% of the hatchlings will make it to one year of age. That is about average and works out mathematically in the long run, considering how long the adults live and how many times they reproduce in their lifetime.

Over the decades, I have seen loon chicks get separated from their parents. This is often a very difficult event to watch. Many times, the lost young will take up with another family of loons. The adults take in the lost youngster and feed it just like their own. However, the offspring of the adults often don’t accept the lost youngster and usually peck at the newcomer, causing it to stay on the periphery of the family unit. There is often a noticeable size difference between the lost chick and the adopted family chicks. Either larger or smaller. I see this happen every other year or so. But in the end, it usually works out.

The other morning, I was out with a small group of photographers on the boat when we came across something I had never seen before. There was a pair of loons with four tiny chicks, all the same size. At first, I thought it was another orphaned chick scenario, except this time, it was two chicks. But over the next couple of days, I continued to watch this family of six and could see that all four chicks were the same size, and there was no aggression between the siblings like I have seen so many other times in the past.

Without any genetic evidence to back it up, I assumed this pair of adult loons laid four eggs, successfully hatched them and is now raising all four chicks. I have done some basic research, and it appears four chicks have been documented in the past, but it is incredibly uncommon.

Just when you think you know something for sure, Mother Nature points out that she still has many sides and can still surprise you. Until next time …

Editor’s note: Stan Tekiela’s NatureSmart column appears twice a month in the Eden Prairie Local News. Tekiela is an author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer who travels extensively across the United States to study and capture wildlife images.

You can follow his work on Instagram and Facebook. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.