The Common Loon -- July 16

July 15-16 was "Loon Weekend" in Glacier, and a great weekend it was.

(Photograph by Roy Toft)

Glacier National Park harbors about 20% of Montana's breeding "Common Loons", and the Loon is a Montana species of special concern. The park has been collecting data on the Common Loon since 1988, and the data indicates lower productive rates in Glacier compared to the rest of Montana.

As Loons have a preference for breeding on isolated northern lakes (they need cold water), it is easy to see why we have scant knowledge of loons. The concern is that due to increasing numbers of summer vacationers on lakes where the birds breed, it is causing the birds to be upset and thus breeding less.

So Glacier started the Citizen Scientist Project for the Loon. It's a program where volunteers assist the park biologists in spotting and counting the Common Loon when they come into the park. The volunteers spend part of their time spotting or not spotting Loons on the many lakes of Glacier. This provides additional information all season to get a better estimate of the population status, as well as to identify factors affecting nesting success.

I have volunteered and been trained for the Citizen Scientist program. I wish I could say I've been of some help to them this year, but my ankle has been so sore, that I haven't been able to do much hiking to the lakes where the Loons live. But I did set aside July 16 to survey Lake Sherburne which is located in the Many Glacier area of the park. It is a huge lake, and right by the road, so I didn't have to walk far to get to the edge of this beautiful lake.

As you can see from the picture above, the Loon has a unique breeding plumage with black and white checkering and spotting (both male and female). They have a black head with a sharp black bill, and the real distinguishing feature is the black and white "necklace" they sport. The white chest and belly are also common. The chicks are almost always black in their first summer. Here you see the habit of a young loon to ride on the parent's back while in the water. This may help keep the young warm while they are still small.

Loons are excellent swimmers, and have webbed feet, much like ducks. Because their feet are far back on the body, loons are poorly adapted to moving on land, and usually avoid going onto land, except when nesting and breeding. They are actually more like penguins.

All loons are decent fliers, though the larger species have some difficulty taking off and thus must swim into the wind to pick up enough velocity to become airborne. They also require much larger lakes, as they need more "runway" to get off the water, and they stay lower after takeoff until their smaller wings can help their gain altitude. Once airborne, their considerable stamina allows them to migrate long distances southwards in winter, where they reside in coastal waters (many of Glacier's Loons live on the west coast in winter). Loons can live as long as 30 years.














(My view on Sherbourne Lake towards Salamander Glacier while I searched for Loons)

It was a beautiful day -- sunny and in the low 70's. After a 2 hour drive, I arrived at Lake Sherburne. This lake is a reservoir which dams Swiftcurrent Creek, and was constructed around 1920. The lake is nearly 6 miles long (maybe more this year). Thank goodness the project loaned me a very strong spotting scope, or I wouldn't have seen anything on this lake. I saw about 15 Canadian Geese through the spotting scope -- couldn't see them with my naked eye nor with the high powered binoculars I had borrowed.

And I DID SEE COMMON LOONS -- 3 of them. I spent about 3 hours looking and moving to different spots on the lake, so it was really neat to spot the loons. They were diving for food, preening, and one loon was doing a territorial upright wing-flap where they rise up out of the water and flap their wings with the white breast towards the intruder. This is a signal that this territory is occupied.

I was thrilled when they suggested Lake Sherburne, as it is the first lake passed on the way to Many Glacier, where there is Swiftcurrent Lake, Lake Josephine, and Grinnell Lake. I had not been to Many Glacier this year, and I wanted to see it again. I think it is one of the prettiest places in the park, and once I drove into the area, I was not disappointed. It is beautiful!!




(Swiftcurrent Lake with Grinnell Point on the left, Swiftcurrent Mountain in the back middle, and Mount Wilbur on the right side)



I also found "bear grass" around the ranger station. I talked about this unique flower in my previous blog. So here are a few pictures.