From "Loons are falling out of the sky in northern Wisconsin" (NBC15).
Have you ever helped a loon — a real loon (no dumb jokes!)? Would you?
This post gets my "birds" tag. I do have a separate tag "ducks," but, like coots and grebes, loons are not ducks. Keep your "not ducks" birds straight:
Loons, unlike coots and grebes, do have webbed feet. But their legs are like grebes in that they’re placed very far back on their bodies, making them unable to walk on land like ducks.... Their large, dagger-like bill and tendency to sit lower in the water gives them a unique profile. They will be solitary and further out on the water than most of the other waterfowl.
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Loons are like owls, mysterious. They're the haunting sound in the night, the creature briefly glimpsed in the dark.
They shouldn't be subject to the laws of gravity.
I love the loons. We had them on the family pond in Vermont. If contributing to pay for the little log raft where they would nest is helping loons...then yes, I have...
We see them here in the south in the winter. They look different here. The winter kit is kind of blah but the summer togs are fabu...
Politics most divisive since the civil war
Mass formation psychosis everywhere
Unprecedented gender confusion
People increasingly not mating for life
Birds falling out of the sky
Things traditionally seen as abnormal
These days a loonacy all too common
I am continually amazed by what Global Warming can accomplish! Really. Who had “migratory birds ice over” on their Global Warming bingo cards? That AGW is such a goofball! First it ended California’s drought, which it was causing, then we got record snowfall in April all over. Now we have to find a way to de-ice our frozen Loons. Seems like the only thing Global Warming can’t do is warm things up, you know, shine the sun on solar panels and stir up a little motion on all these icy windmills and slice up some frozen Loons.
A friend has a lake house in New Hampshire. It is misleading to call loons solitary. We often see two or three together.
I would help if I knew how and could recognize the signs of distress. Until just now, that would have meant no help from me. Having read this, the chances are greater than zero, but probably still less than 50-50 that a loon I happened across would be better for the meeting.
Loons can be difficult to handle, especially those in office.
Serious Question: How many Loons, does it take; to make a pie?
Put me down for "Yes I would help a loon."
I learned last week from our esteemed TV weather people that AGW was responsible for the heavy rains in Ft Lauderdale recently. It's truly amazing; there's nothing bad that can happen for which it is not responsible.
the loons are unable to stay airborne and crash land
Why is it a bad thing that the loons are unable to crash land?
"Who's he"?, the cows ask each other.
Mike (MJB Wolf): you beat me to it, citing climate change as the reason for everything weird, sad or bad. I think the Greens should ask Biden to establish an emergency Loon Rescue Fund. Start it off with a few $B and a WH Czar. Maybe Kamala can lend her charismatic concern for suffering wildlife?
We had a lake home in Northern WI and always had a pair of loons, plus often an odd male. We had an electric motor only rule, no outboards, so the loons loved it and were almost always present. Because of that a CA professor used to visit our lake to study them. https://loonproject.org/
Our lake was one of the cleanest and clearest in Wisconsin, in the spring I would watch them swimming under the boat when I was fishing. I never helped one other than, like rehajm, helping pay for a floating nest that our lake association made to protect their eggs from predators. Because of that, we would often get hatching chicks, but many don't make it for long. They can swim immediately, but can't dive under water for about a week. During that time they are vulnerable to bald eagles.
"Roger Sweeny said...
A friend has a lake house in New Hampshire. It is misleading to call loons solitary. We often see two or three together."
Loons do pair up, but generally not for life. Female loons decide on their mates, and after time will discard them for a new beau. If you see three two are male. One is trying to displace the other.
"A friend has a lake house in New Hampshire. It is misleading to call loons solitary. We often see two or three together."
Yeah, they always pair up to raise their chicks.
They also flock together when they are preparing to migrate south for the winter. I've been in the Boundary Waters in the fall several times and have seen hundreds flocked together on a backwoods lake. Awesome.
I assume the loon is flying through supercooled water droplets, and they freeze on contact with the sub-freezing outer feathers. One cold blame a loon insulation system that is too efficient.
The state could invest in de-icing equipment for loons.
I always think of loons having Katherine Hepburn's vocal accent.
My family has owned some gorgeous forest land fronting on two crystal clear lakes north of Rhinelander since the early 1950’s on which we camped every summer from when I was a mere yout. I grew up with the wonderful sounds of the loons and their extraordinary takeoff run to get airborne. Fortunately, one of the lakes is named Long Lake. And they can submerge underwater and swim a great distance before surfacing. The only loons in WI I actually like.
- Krumhorn
Inga, how often have you fallen out of the sky in Wisconsin? (Ducks, as Althouse throws me a dirty look).
My favorite memories of the north includes the nighttime cry of the loon.
Now you got me reading up on the solitariness or not of loons. I know loons mostly from time spent on Isle Royale. Usually there is only one mating pair of loons per small lake, which spreads the population out quite a bit. The geography of Isle Royale, with its long skinny inland lakes and bays, allows a pair of loons to have its own territory but also to be close to other pairs. So: Isle Royale lots of loons.
I found this article this morning about a phenomenon I have not witnessed: “'social gatherings' — groupings of three to twelve adults that occur in July and August, which feature loons swimming together and interacting socially for an hour or more." Pretty interesting.
This can’t be too bad, obviously exaggerated. Since global temperatures have spiked to the point that people are now dying all over the place, the loon ice must have been much worse in the past, and the loons survived just fine then.
My niece rescued a crash-landed loon from a small pond in northern Trempealeau county.
"No dumb jokes!"
I am completely stymied.
I would help a loon, as I would help just about any creature in need of it.
I have rescued crows stuck in my chimney.
I have rescued little finches stuck to cactus balls.
I have rescued snakes stranded in my back yard.
I even catch-and-release scorpions who have found their way into my house.
Mosquitoes, however, can go extinct for all I care. In fact, I wish they would.
God as my witness, I thought loons could walk.
Common Loons are not a focal species for my research, but I see them on a very large body of water in my primary research area.
I've never seen a loon need at least 1/4 mile of open water to get airborne (and there are reference points available that help with validating that). But I'm just one observer with a few data points per year.
The problem is the article. The article says "Loons require large bodies of water with at least a quarter mile of water to take off...". That's a pretty definitive claim.
But then an article from msn.com yesterday and several more about loon fallout notes "“Just like a plane needs a runway, sometimes loons need a quarter of a mile to take off”."
I don't see any references to AGW, which is encouraging.
I know, I'm nitpicking. My apologies.
The only time you see groups of loons is just before they migrate. I've seen them gather on the lake in groups of about 10-20, fussing about and making interesting sounds, as part of the preparations for the migration. Other times, you almost always see two, a male and a female, unless one of them is sitting on the eggs. They are strictly binary. I've never seen a transgender loon, except sales clerking at some of the stores here in Portland, Oregon. Returning to Maine, sometimes there are baby loons, which ride on momma's back for a while until they learn to swim.
“'social gatherings' — groupings of three to twelve adults that occur in July and August, which feature loons swimming together and interacting socially for an hour or more.
The osprey in the nearby park arrive on April 15, and then migrate south around August 15. Before they leave, all the nearby nesting pairs congregate, and then play in the wind for a couple of hours. It seems to be a celebration.
They also appear to posse-up to ward off eagles looking for osprey chicks.
Yeah, yeah....I know... anthropomorphize much??
Canada doesn't need any more loons, they have plenty. Also don't need more birds.
"Have you ever helped a loon — a real loon (no dumb jokes!)? Would you?"
Challenge accepted!
A priest, a rabbi and a loon walk into a bar. The loon ducks.
Don't get me wrong some of my best friends are loony.
They're from Canada.
OK. I'm done.
I find it difficult to believe Loons are falling out of the sky due to icing. They're water birds and are waterproof.
Could be worse, could be aircraft icing up and crashing. They're really hard to handle after hitting the earth in an inappropriate landing site, unless a pilot as good as Sully is driving. Wait, no, that was geese in the engines. Blame Canada!
This was inevitable with the debilitating energy regulation of Loon de-icers.
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