Common Loon with Chicks

The common loon is the state bird of Minnesota, where I live. Common loons breed primarily in Canada but will also breed in the northern portions of the US, such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Common loons spend their entire life in the water, except for nesting. They are designed for swimming, with their back legs placed further back on their body. They are also heavier then most birds their size. This is because their bones are not hollow like other birds. This gives them less buoyancy so that they can dive easier to catch fish, their primary food source. It also makes it more difficult for them to fly. A loon will dive under the water to avoid danger instead of trying to fly. About the only time that you will see loons in flight is during migration. When the northern lakes begin to freeze the common loons head to the open coastal waters of North America. Loon chicks are able to swim shortly after hatching. When they are small they rely on their parents for food and protection. Most predators will not mess with adult loons because of their size but loon chicks are a different matter. Before they are old enough to dive for cover to avoid danger the chicks will often hide under their parents wings if a larger raptor is in the area. Other times they will snooze while riding on mom or dad's back. 

Lake Hiawatha

 So after a very long winter this weekend's weather was almost perfect, at least on my scale. We had mostly sunny days with highs in the lower to mid seventies. Since it is almost May I went out to a few of my favorite places to see if I could find some early warblers. The only warblers that I found were yellow rumps but I did find a lot of the migrating waterfowl was still around. Most of the time they would have moved on by now but because of our longer then normal winter many of the lakes up north still have ice on them. So many of the migrating waterfowl are holding tight until things get better up north.

The best place that I found for photographing migrating waterfowl was Lake Hiawatha. This lake in south Minneapolis is one of several that is fed from Minnehaha creak. Since it is smaller then many of the other lakes around, it is usually where the ice melts first. This open water attracts migrating waterfowl who stop to feed on fish from the lake including northern pike, walleye and large mouthed bass. In 1922 when the lake property was purchased by the City of Minneapolis, Lake Hiawatha was just a swamp but the city transformed it over a number of years into a beautiful lake surrounded by a park and golf course. This year the lake had a number of common loons which is not uncommon but there was also a number of horned grebe in their breeding plumage. I took advantage of the rare opportunity to get a lot of horned grebe pics before they head up to their breeding grounds up in Canada. I also spotted bufflehead, common, hooded, and red-breasted mergansers, pied-billed grebe and numerous species of ducks. There was also a few eagles that circled above the lake for a few minutes and osprey diving into the lake after fish.

Common Loon

 The sun finally came out today. It is hard to believe that it is already the last half of April. You would not know it from looking outside. The fresh snow that we got Thursday and Friday makes it look like early March. Even with our continuing winter weather some of the birds have begun to come back into the area. I spotted a half a dozen loons on Lake Hiawatha today.Unfortunately for the loons there was a lot more ice on the lake then usual so they were limited in where they co swim. Last year, at this time, you could not find a lake with ice still on it and this year its hard to find a lake that doesn't. For the loons this is just a stop over on their way north but if we still have a lot of snow and ice here then there is probably even more further north. So perhaps these loons will be hanging around for a bit.

Common Loon

 The common loon is the state bird of Minnesota. They are commonly found breeding on fresh water lakes in the northern half of the state. This is on the southern edge of their breeding territory which extends north through most of Canada and Alaska. Here in the southern part of the state we usually only see them during migration. They winter in coastal waters around most of North America. They are easy to identify by sight or by their unique call.

Common Loon

 The common loon travels with me almost everywhere that I go. The license plate on my car, which I pay an extra fee each year to help support wildlife in Minnesota, features the Minnesota State Bird which is the common loon. It is not unusual to find nesting loons on many of the lakes in Minnesota, especially the lakes in the northern parts of the state. Loons are sometimes difficult to spot because they're heavier then most birds, they do not have hollow bones like other birds, so they usually sit lower in the water. Fortunately they are easy to identify by their call, which is one of the most unique in the bird world.

Common Loons

 

Common Loon

If you have visited this blog before you probably have noticed that during the summer one of the things that I photograph often are common loons. I am fortunate that common loons tend to nest in the area that I live. They are the state bird here in Minnesota. Though they are not the most colorful bird I think that they are attractive and very photogenic.

Loon

Loons are one of my favorite types of water fowl. They are the state bird of Minnesota and they adorn the critical habitat license plates that are on my car. However loons are built a little bit differently then most other species of birds.
First off their legs are further back on their body then most other birds. This makes it very difficult and awkward for them to walk but it does help them to swim. That is why they spend the majority of their time in the water. Common loons nest on fresh water lakes in Canada, Alaska and northern portions of the United States. They winter in the coastal waters of the U.S.
You might notice in the pictures above that the loon appears to be sitting very low in the water. That is because while most birds have hollow bones the common loon does not. This adaptation makes them less buoyant which enables them to dive up to 200 feet under the water. Below the surface of the water they prey primarily on fish but they will also eat other aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates.

Tamarac, a "Near Pristine" Refuge

In the last weekend in July, I headed northwest up to the Tamarac NWR. Established in 1938 Tamarac sits at the divergence of 3 biomes, coniferous forests, deciduous forest, and prairie grasslands. This provides a great diversity of habitat on the 42,724 acre refuge. These diverse habitats are a home to many different species of bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian and insect.

The refuge was originally set up to protect breeding habitat for migrating waterfowl. In the fall thousands of migrating waterfowl, often including more then 15,000 ring-necked ducks, stop over on the twenty-one lakes that are found on the refuge. Most of the lakes contain abundant food, such as wild rice beds, that the waterfowl take advantage of before they continue the trip south.
Some waterfowl remain on the refuge all summer long. Birds such as red-necked grebes, hooded mergansers, wood ducks and common loons will often nest and raise their young on the protected waters of the refuge.
With twenty-one lakes, three rivers and many other wetlands including marshes, bogs, swamps and ponds their is plenty of habitat for dragonflies. The most common that I spotted on my trip were Canada darner, blue dasher, and Halloween pennant, pictured above. There was also plenty of fields full of wild flowers with butterflies fluttering between the colorful blossoms.

The visitors center is located in the center area of the refuge over looking a beautiful wetlands. Refuge offices are also located in the building. From here they manage various aspects of the refuge including the management of wildlife such as trumpeter swans and bald eagles, water management, prescribed burnings and plantings, monitoring and controlling invasive species, and breeding bird and other surveys. All of this work has payed off to keep Tamarac in a "near pristine" state.

The Uncommon Common Loon

All of the Little Ones are Growing Up

One of the highlights of spring and early summer is the chance to photograph a lot of babys. This year I was photographing everything from great horned owl chicks to merlin chicks to eastern kingbirds feeding their chick. However by now most of the chicks have grown up and are learning how to survive out on their own.

The common loon nests on clear freshwater lakes. Nests are often located on floating islands of vegetation or on top of muskrat mounds. Having a nest surrounded by water helps to keep away some of the land based predators.

Loons typically lay 2 to 4 eggs. They incubate them for 27 to 30 days. Hatchlings are able to leave the nest with in a day or so of hatching. For their first couple weeks of life they will spend a majority of their time riding on their parents back. This helps to keep them safe from some of the predators under the water, such as pike, until they are stronger swimmers.
It takes about 11 weeks before the young loons fledge. This young one was working on his first flight. Loons spend a majority of their time on the water. They are built more for swimming then they are flying. Most of their food, primarily fish, frogs and aquatic invertabrates, is caught by diving and much of it is consumed under the water. In order to dive deep, they can dive over 200 feet below the surface, they do not have hollow bones like most birds do which makes them heavy for their size. Adult loons weigh about 12 pounds, or about the same as an large adult female eagle in Minnesota, which means that they need a lot of room to take off into the air.

Immature Common Loon

Lake Hiawatha

With over 10,000 lakes it is not difficult to find one here in Minnesota. Even Minneapolis, which is the largest metropolitan area in Minnesota, has several lakes with in its borders. Last week I headed over to visit one of these, Lake Hiawatha, after work.

The warmer temps that we have had lately finally melted most of the ice that had covered the lake. The newly opened water is providing needed habitat for migrating waterfowl who need to stop over in southern Minnesota because many of the lakes further north are still not open.

I spotted two types of mergansers on the lake. The hooded mergansers, the second picture, often nest in the area. There breeding range extends down through the northern and eastern portions of Minnesota. The red-breasted merganser, above, will continue north to nesting grounds in Canada and Alaska.

The common loon is the state bird of Minnesota. Loons often nest on lakes in the northern portions of Minnesota but we only see them in the southern portion of the state during migration. I estimate that there were at least 10 loons on the lake and it was fun to hear them calling to each other across the lake. Loons have an unique call that is difficult to ever forget.

At one point waters from Lake Hiawatha empty into Minnehaha Creek, which is winding its way to the Mississippi River. At the mouth of the creek is a stand of trees which is home to a small colony of Black-crowned night. Since we are on the northern portion of the black-crowned night-herons range this is one of the few places around that you can see these birds reliably year after year.

The birds were not the only thing taking advantage of the open waters. Muskrats stay active through out the winter by traveling under the ice, but it is much easier for them to find food once the lake open up. They eat mostly aquatic vegetation but since they are omnivores they will also eat things such as fish, crayfish and frogs.

The Life List Begins

When it comes to birding I have never been much of a lister. I decided a while back that my life list would be my pictures and that I would only count a bird if I had a photo. As I have continued to photograph new species I have began to become curious on just how many different species that I have. So I have decided to begin a life list, in photos, here on the blog. Eventually I hope to tie these photos into a website that people can use as a reference for birding, but that is still down the road a bit. For now I will begin to post life list posts frequently until I have listed every species that I have photographed.

To keep things some what organized I have decided to follow the order of the Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley, since most birders I know have this field guide. The first grouping in the Sibley book are loons. Unfortunately the only species of loon that I currently have photographed is the common loon.

All three of these shots where taken at Crex Meadows in Wisconsin. Crex is the best place that I have found for photographing common loons. In early spring the loons come through on there way north and often stop over to spend a little time at Crex. The loons are often fishing in the waters right off of Main Dike Road and you are able to get good looks from inside the car. Most years a pair or two decide to stay and nest in the park. When they are very young the adults usually keep the chicks in the middle of the larger lakes so that they can avoid the land based predators. However as the chicks grow and begin to learn how to fly there are opportunities to get closer shots. The last photo is an immature that was close to fledging.