This text is taken from the “Courrier de la planete” of June 7, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
It is most often associated with wide open spaces and lakes undisturbed by human activity, but the common loon (also known as the common loon) is also known for its beautiful song, which can be heard far away at dusk, or even in the middle of the night.
In our photo, we can see one of these pairs of loons, which returns year after year to Lake Lyster, in the Eastern Townships, at the foot of Mount Pinacle. The two loons were photographed last Sunday, in full courtship, in the context of the breeding season for the species.
According to an analysis produced last year by the organization Birds Canada, however, it seems that the common loon is in difficulty in the country, due to the decline in productivity of pairs.
According to the inventory led by the organization, which also took into account the readings of past years, the productivity, and therefore the ability of couples to produce chicks until they take flight from the nest, has experienced a marked decline over the course of the year. of the past 30 years.
This reproductive capacity appears to have declined by an average of 1.4% per year. “At the beginning of the 1990s, it averaged above 0.7 young per pair per year, then it has dropped to around 0.55 in recent years. This may seem like a small decline, but if the trend continues and productivity falls below 0.48, numbers will likely begin to decline,” the report read.
Although the common loon population is not currently directly threatened in Canada, with approximately 240,000 pairs, Birds Canada warns that it could find itself “in difficulty” in the coming years.
Causes to find
For the moment, it seems difficult to identify the causes of this drop in productivity of small loons reared until their emancipation. It is possible that several combined factors explain this decline, including acid rain, mercury contamination in fish, shoreline development, recreational boating and climatic changes.
The organization, which relies in particular on volunteers to carry out inventories across Canada, intends to study these different leads to determine if they have an influence on the trajectory of the population of this bird.
Common loons are no exception to the fate of other bird species across North America, including in Quebec. Several bird populations are experiencing significant declines. According to a 2019 study published in the journal Nature, North America’s birdlife has declined by 29% since 1970, representing the loss of about three billion birds.
More than 90% of the 3.2 billion extinct birds belong to 12 families of passerines, songbirds and perching birds, including sparrows, warblers, larks, goldfinches, finches, sparrows, blackbirds , starlings, swallows and nightjars.