The ice is breaking up in the Great Lakes region and what do suppose people are also seeing? Here's the sequence of events described by Mrs. Malcolm's 6th Grade at Linklater Macdonald school in Gananoque, Ontario:
March 25th
"The ice left our Customs dock during the night. There was a big
wind that blew the ice away from the dock and out into the St.
Lawrence river. Some of the small islands in the River were
surrounded by ice packs 14 feet high. It is a sight we have never
seen before." Then, on Sunday, March 31 students Chris Morton and
Tyler Whaley spotted their first loon of the season near the P.U.C
dock in Kingston, Ontario just 6 days later. vivwhite@limestone.
kosone.com
Also in Ontario, naturalist Don Davis reported the first common loon sighting this spring at Presqu'ile Provincial Park near Brighton, Ontario on April 1, 1996. This park is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario opposite Rochester, New York. Along with this bird were over 16,000 migrating ducks, geese, and swans (tundra swans)-- over 24 species or waterfowl! Obviously, ice-out is an important event for birds that live around water! Don welcomes your comments and questions about Ontario birds and butterflies. donald_davis@stubbs.woodsworth.utoronto.ca
Analyzing Migration Data
Thanks to volunteers across the U.S. and Canada who participate in the "National Birding Hotline Cooperative" the following loon migration sightings are yours to analyze. These sightings are collected over a telephone hotline and are very helpful to scientists like Dave Evers. Obviously Dave can only be in one place at a time. However, with the help of these field observers he can monitors loon migration across the U.S. and Canada.
"I have an idea for a student project", says Dave. "Students can use last year's data and compare it to this year's reports. They can map out the loon migration as the loons fly into the southern Great Lakes. Using dates and numbers and locations we may be able to see migration waves (which could turn out to be very interesting). What do you think?"
We think this sounds like a Challenge Question! Therefore, in our next report we will summarize loon migration data collected last spring. In the meantime, you should prepare to summarize this year's records.
These Migration Sightings Collected by the National Birding Hotline Cooperative:
From MAINE:
March 16, 1996
Seventeen COMMON LOONS were at Pine Point in Scarborough (SW of Portland).
From INDIANA:
March 23, 1996
At Lake Lemon (NE of Bloomington) off Riddle Point on Sat. In the area were
COMMON LOON and at Farifax SRA 7 COMMON LOONS
From MAINE:
March 24, 1996
Down East and Central Maine
A boat trip around Isle Au Haut (East of Rockland) on 03/24 yielded 12+
COMMON LOONS.
From ILLINOIS:
March 24 & 26, 1996
A LOON was found on Sunday in the main lake at Four Lakes
Village, DuPage County (W of Chicago)
At Mallard Lake near Bloomingdale (NW of Chicago) 2 LOONS were found on Tuesday. They were still there on Thursday.
From MICHIGAN:
March 28,1996
Elswhere in SOUTHERN MICHIGAN - a good diversity of waterfowl species were
reported on areas of open water from Berrien County on the west - to Monroe
County on the east. COMMON LOONS are beginning to be reported.
From ONTARIO:
March 28, 1996
The lake at the end of Gray's Rd. in Stoney Creek (Hamilton, SW of Toronto)
has been the waterfowl hotspot locally. Waterfowl spotted include the first
COMMON LOONS.
From OHIO:
March 28, 1996
50 COMMON LOONS were at Mosquito Lake (Trumbull county, NE of Warren).
From PENNSYLVANIA:
March 29,1996
COMMON LOONS in Chester County, in the area of the Marsh Creek State Park (SW of
Philidelphia).
From OHIO:
March 30, 1996
Migrant waterfowl were numerous and varied throughout the region the
past weekend. To the east (NE of Cleveland),this past weekend, part of the
75 species seen there.Highlights included 5 COMMON LOONS on the 30th.
COMMON LOONS were widely reported, 15 to 20 on LaDue Reservoir on the 30th, 10 at Chippewa Lake on the 20th, 1 at Pymatuning (North of Youngstown) on the 30th and another report from Spenser Lake in Medina County (West of Akron) on the 30th.
From FLORIDA:
March 30, 1996
Wakulla Co.,South of Tallahassee,Florida
At St. Marks NWR, 2 COMMON LOONS, were seen in the bay (and oyster bars)
just offshore of the lighthouse on Sat., March 30
From ILLINOIS:
March 31, 1996
A COMMON LOON was still seen this morning at Mallard Lake near
Bloomingdale (NW of Chicago).
Numbers of COMMON LOONS are being seen in Lake County (NW of Chicago). Ten were seen today on Long Lake, along Lake Shore Drive at the north end of the lake. Fifteen LOONS were seen off Eagle Point on Pistakee Lake, and 10 were in Mineola Bay on Fox Lake.
From ILLINOIS:
April 1, 1996
A COMMON LOON has been seen at Mallard Lake near Bloomingdale (NW of
Chicago) and at AE Sea at Fermilab.
From ONTARIO:
March 31, 1996
Sighting of a Loon Sunday,March 31,1996
By P.U.C dock Kinston Ont. 2:00pm 44.4 N Latitude,76.28 W longitude.
Chris Morton and Tyler Whaley
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