Loon, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, July 1, 2019.
Seney National Wildlife Refuge is one of my favorite places on the planet and I try to make a pilgrimage there every 2 – 3 years. Loons arrive every year in the spring, one of the many reasons to go to Seney. There is nothing quite like hearing the call of a loon. Seney is in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula just north of Germfask.
Loon at Sunset, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, June 30, 2019.
The loon (or loons) in these two photos were both photographed in the H Pool, but you can see loons at any one of several pools. Just take the one way road through the refuge and keep an eye out at all of the pools. Two see everything you will need to drive through twice. Take the fisherman’s loop on trip, and take the shorter loop on the other trip.
H Pool photo location. Click the image to see a larger version.
This screen capture from Google Earth Pro shows where I was standing when I took the July 1, 2019 photo. The June 30 photo was taken from pretty close to the same location on the road.
Sunset, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, June 30, 2019.
Spring is in the air and the mating activities of the loons at Seney National Wildlife Refuge are as complicated as a long running soap opera. This fascinating description was posted a year ago at the Seney Facebook page. FYI, “ABJ” is the world’s oldest loon in the world with a verified age. He arrived at Seney again this April. ABJ was banded as a G Pool chick in 1987 and he will turn 38 this June.
ABJ SINGLE AGAIN – April 26, 2024
From Damon McCormick of Common Coast Research & Conservation:
Last May, despite a broken upper mandible that theoretically torpedoed his reproductive fitness in the eyes of potential mates, ABJ surprisingly paired and nested with a female, Daisy, who was two decades younger than his 36 years. This April, again claiming Seney’s E West Territory with Daisy, and with his bill fully regrown, ABJ’s breeding season, wedded to the prospect of hatching his 33rd and 34th chicks, was off to a promising start. But alas, for a third consecutive spring there is tribulation for the world’s oldest Common Loon of known age: He is back alone on H Pool, his bachelor pad of both recent seasons and his early years on the Refuge. Although the cause of the relocation was not documented, it is likely, based upon observations before and after, that he was forcibly evicted from E West by a challenging male. In such circumstances the resident female will often pair with the usurper, as occurred when Fe coupled with ABJ in 1997 after he bested her prior swain, Dewlap, in fierce battle. In this instance, however, Daisy also fled the territory; adding insult to eviction, instead of following ABJ back to H, she matched with a different male on adjacent F Pool, ABJ’s long-term home with Fe. Meanwhile, Fe herself has experienced an undramatic Refuge return on nearby I Pool, her breeding territory since 2022, and should initiate nesting with her unbanded mate within the week.
As noted in the previous update, and as freshly demonstrated by ABJ and Daisy, early spring is a time of comparative flux at the Refuge. ABJ and Fe’s 19 year-old daughter, Zelda, has moved from her D Pool abode of a decade to adjacent G, pairing with a 24 year-old male known as Jay. When ABJ found new love on E West last May, his vacant H Pool bachelor pad was quickly occupied by Z-Dot, Zelda’s 2018 chick and ABJ’s grandson. With the family patriarch back on H, this April Z-Dot has thus far only been observed intruding into other nearby territories. Should he drop into H at some point, he will receive no warm welcome from Gramps; while ABJ’s genes are pleased that ABJ’s lineage populates Seney pools, ABJ’s disposition, mirroring that of all Common Loons, does not extend behavioral courtesies to any adult who is not a current or potential breeding partner.
While April witnesses the highest frequency of divorce among Refuge partnerships, most pairs from the year prior will commence another breeding season together. On C Pool, 21 year-old Hook, a full brother to G Pool’s 24 year-old Jay, is again paired with a female known as Grant, who was banded on C as a successful mother in 2006; as she was at least four at the time, she is presently at least 22. Although back on C, Grant spent many years on adjacent B Pool coupled to Killer, who, now 31, is currently partnered for the seventh consecutive season with 14 year-old Jinx, another daughter to ABJ and Fe.
Once again, thanks to Common Coast volunteer Dani Fegan and Seney Visitor Services Specialist Jen Wycoff for their observations and documentation of Seney’s color-marked loon population.
Damon McCormick
Common Coast Research & Conservation
Sunset, Seney National Wildlife, June 30, 2019.
Photo Data
Loon: Both images were created with a Canon 7D Mark II, and a Canon EF 100-400mm zoom lens at 400mm.
Sunset: Both images were created with a Canon 5D Mark III camera. The first Sunset photo was created with a 24-105mm lens at 105mm. The second sunset photo was created with a Canon 17-40mm lens at 17mm.
Link
