Lakeshore Advance, 2013-05-01, Page 4Wednesda Ma
1 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 3
A Cobblestone Design pond is a stopover for this loon
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Lynda Htllman-Raplety
Stranded loon saved by Cobblestone environmentalist
Lynda Hillman-Rapley
Lakeshore Advance
It is not unlike Brian Steckle to care about the
environment and conservation, so it was of no
surprise to brother (:fun when he called hint to
say he had a stranded loon that needed to he in
their Zurich Cobblestone Design pond.
Brian said he noticed the loon at the side of the
road just past the 1lensall (:o -op. I it. grabbed his
coat to attempt to grab the bird to take to safety.
"'the bird stood up with his big red eyes piercing
at me ready to attack," he said adding he put his
coat over the bird and put it in the cab of his truck.
lie called Cant to ask hire to go back to work to
help him with his capture.
As he took the loon from the car, (:ant
videotaped while Brian put the bird in the pond.
"The bird was flapping and calling, as if in a
warning;' said Brian. Ile said the loon mates for
life and maybe it was calling its partner.
'Ihis type of loon can't fly from land and Brian
said it was probably living on one of the nearby
Melds that was surrounded by water. Once the
ilirs-later was gone, the bird needed to find new
aquatics.
The loon is the official bird of Ontario. Male and
female loons have identical plumage, largely
patterned black -and -white in summer, with grey
on the head and neck in some species. All have a
white belly.
Loons are excellent swimmers, using their feet
to propel themselves above and uncles water
while their wings provide assistance. Because
their feet are far back on the body, loons are
poorly adapted to moving on land, and usually
avoid going onto land, except when nesting. All
loons are decent fliers, though the larger species
have some difficulty taking off and thus must
swim into the wind to pick up enough velocity to
becomt' airborne. That inay be an issue with the
pond this loon now resides in. It may not be big
enough to enable flight.
Perhaps one of the most fascinating things
about common loons is their haunting and varia-
ble voice. Loons are most vocal from slid -Mac to
slid -lune. They have four distinct calls, which
they use in varying combinations to communi-
cate with their families and other loons. 'These are
the tremolo, %vaii, yodel, and hoot. The tremolo
sounds like a crazy laugh and is used for a variety
of purposes, such as to signal alarm or worry and
to denote annoyance or greeting. the wail is one
of the loveliest of loon calls. It is used frequently
during social interactions between loons and may
be used to regain contact with it elate during
night chorusing and in answering other loon
tremolos. The yodel is given only by the male. It
is a long, rising call with repetitive notes in the
middle and can last up to six seconds. It is used
by the reale to defend territory and can be stimu-
lated by another male entering a loon's territory.
Studies of recordings have shown that
the yodeI is different for each bird and
can be used to identify individual
loons. 'tile hoot is a one -note call that
sounds more like hoo. It is mainly used
by family members to locate each other
and ('heck on their %veli -being.
All loons are protected by federal law
and may not be hunted. For now, this
loon has become a member of the
Cobblestone Design family until it can
fly to the nearby Lake Huron.
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