Talkin bout loons!

[Lee Borgersen]

 No were not talkin bout Glenn 57
   

 More Vermilion loons

But concerns remain, and Minnesota may see funds from BP settlement for loon recovery


 
 

 





 
 

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LAKE VERMILION—Five years after the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, initial indications suggest that the common loon population in northeastern Minnesota remains strong, at least for now. The latest annual loon count on Lake Vermilion, conducted July 13, found a total of 297 loons, the third highest total ever recorded in the 33 years since the Lake Vermilion Sportmen’s Club began the annual survey.

A total of 73 count volunteers tallied 62 mated pairs and 46 loon chicks, the third-highest number of chicks ever recorded on the lake. The tally was a marked improvement on the 29 chicks recorded last year as high water and severe insect outbreaks contributed to lower-than-expected loon reproduction. Last year’s survey found 60 mated pairs and a total of 248 loons on the lake.

Despite the recent good news, wildlife officials remain concerned that the impact from the spill will show up in later years— as young loons that were exposed to the spill in 2010 move into their prime breeding years. According to Carrol Henderson, director of the Nongame Wildlife program with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, many of the loons hatched on Minnesota lakes in 2008 and 2009 would have still been in the Gulf at the time of the spill. Typically, immature loons spend their first couple years along either the Gulf or Atlantic coasts, before they begin returning to their home lake in the spring. Even then, said Henderson, it’s usually two to three years before the young loons are ready to begin breeding, and that means that the impact of the oil spill on loon reproduction in Minnesota may just now be starting to show up.

An ongoing study of loons in Minnesota, funded with Legacy dollars, is suggesting that a significant percentage have been exposed to petroleum. According to Henderson, blood samples taken from captured loons have shown that nearly 30 percent have petroleum in their blood.

And contaminants are also showing up in some loon eggs as well. According to Henderson, 17.9 percent of abandoned loon eggs tested, showed significant levels of various contaminants.

While the levels of contaminants are considered sub-lethal, Henderson said there’s concern that they could be enough to affect long-term loon health and reproduction. “Over the next couple years, we’ll be looking for trends in the loon population, “ said Henderson.

“If we start seeing declines, it could be a suggestion that something is going on with reproduction.”

Given the documentation that the ongoing research has already developed, it now appears that Minnesota will be one of only two inland U.S. states to receive money from the $18.7 billion settlement between the federal government and five states to pay for damage claims stemming from the spill. BP and the affected governments announced the settlement earlier this month.

The state could receive as much as $25 million according to recent reports, although Henderson said the final number is still in flux. He said the funding would likely come in four installments over the next 15 years and would help fund a number of recovery efforts for loons. Those efforts could include shoreline protection, placement of nesting platforms, as well as restarting the “Get the Lead Out” program that the DNR and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency had run jointly several years ago until funding ran out.

Henderson said lead sinkers pose a significant risk of lead poisoning to loons and that more needs to be done to promote the use of non-lead alternatives. “We have manufacturers in Minnesota already making this stuff and we need to promote it,” he said. “That would be one area where we could get local support.”

Minnesota is qualifying for the funds in part because the state has documented impacts to loons and because the state is home to an estimated 12,000 loons, by far the largest loon population of any U.S. state outside Alaska.

A loon calls on Lake Vermilion.

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[glenn57]

  HEY!!!!!!!!!!! HAVENT NOTICED any change in the loon population in our little corner of the world. still singing like crazy!!!!!

[The General]

HEY!!!!!!!!!!! HAVENT NOTICED any change in the loon population in our little corner of the world. still singing like crazy!!!!!

+1

[corny13]

I always thought Loons were just fish eating machines, watched a pair feeding their two young ones this weekend, timed them , a perch every min....looked like one small walleye.

Three springs ago though I watched the male of that pair kill and eat most of whole brood of Goldeye ducks that hatched in my box...  They had just hatched and mama was swimming across the bay to the weedy west side. By the time they reached the safety of the weeds there were only 4 ducklings left.  The loon would come up underneath grab a duckling, the mother goldeye would chase over but always too late, must have eaten 10 of them...it was a pretty sad sight....