Loon mysteries unveiled in flight

I find it strangely comforting that there are still many things we don’t understand in nature. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Perhaps it is just the way it is, and we will never understand. We often make assumptions about the kinds of behaviors we see or witness in nature. We often incorrectly attribute a specific animal behavior based on what we humans would think or do in a given situation.

I was thinking about this the other evening while leading a group of photographers to capture images of the common loon (Gavia immer).

Each June, I offer photo tours for serious amateur and professional photographers to see and capture images of loons and their families, particularly adult loons with baby loons riding on their backs. During these photo tours, I help with camera settings, lighting, and angles of photography, but most of all, I explain the behaviors and natural history of these amazing birds.

For example, when a male loon is swimming around its territory, taking care of its babies, and sees another loon flying over its territory, he belts out a loud “yodel” call that echoes across the lake. I explain that only the males make this call. This can be one way to tell the males from the females.

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It is very common for loons to go for a “fly about” early in the morning or late in the day, just before sunset. One evening, we were photographing a male loon with one chick. The water was calm, and the group was capturing some great images when I noticed a pair of loons flying toward us. I let the group know, and we all got ready to capture some images of flying loons.

But when the two flying loons got close to us, they did something I have seen many times before but still can’t figure out. The two birds moved closer together while flying, almost touching, and then started to glide with their wings held over their backs in a deep V shape.

They flew together in this highly stylized glide for a long distance. As I said, I have seen this many times before, and naturally, I thought it might have something to do with a mated pair reestablishing their pair bond. I pointed out this stylized gliding behavior to the group, who all thought it was super cool to see, but I lacked any evidence-based or study-based explanation of this natural behavior.

We watched as the pair glided along for a long distance and then broke apart. One of the loons continued flying straight ahead and over the tree line. The other loon banked sharply and headed straight for us. It landed near us and immediately started swimming toward the male loon and the chick we were photographing. Clearly, it was the female mate of the male we were working to capture images. She was out flying around and gliding with another loon.

Giving it some thought, I realized the stylized gliding wasn’t a pair-bonding behavior because the female wasn’t flying with her mate but with another loon. Could this be aggression displayed in flight? Could it be something just fun to do? There were so many questions.

Later, I spent some time researching the stylized gliding behavior and wasn’t able to come up with an explanation. I found all sorts of webpages that falsely claimed loons need to continually flap their wings because they cannot glide or soar, but nothing addressed the gliding behavior. Some webpages described the gliding behavior but offered no evidence-based explanation for it.

So, there you have it – another animal behavior that goes unexplained and not understood. The point is, there is so much going on in nature that isn’t understood. Much of nature is still a complete mystery to those of us who have spent an entire career trying to learn, understand and help educate about it. 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.