Common loons are raising fewer chicks across almost all of their studied breeding range, with the steepest falls in Atlantic Canada and the Prairie provinces, according to a study reported by The Globe and Mail.
The research, published on Thursday in the journal FACETS and led by Matthew Fuirst of Birds Canada, drew on more than 45,000 breeding records from 3,421 lakes, about half collected by volunteers. In 11 of 12 regions, the number of chicks surviving beyond six weeks per pair fell by between 0.5% and 2.5% a year over two to four decades. Only northern Maine was stable.
Loons are not endangered, with about 254,000 breeding pairs in Canada, some 94% of the species. The researchers say several factors are likely involved, including human disturbance of habitat and possibly climate change, while the remote northern range remains poorly studied.
Source: The Globe and Mail
