We have exciting news to report. Loon biologist Dave Evers just called to say he will travel to Apalachicola Bay, Florida next week. There he will attempt to outfit loons with satellite telemetry equipment and track their spring migration. If you followed Journey North last spring , you know how difficult this research is.
Loons are hard to capture, especially on the wintering grounds.
Little is known about the route loons take from Florida to their breeding lakes, so if the scientists succeed we'll be able to watch this migration as it happens, for the first time. According to Evers, Florida's coasts represent one of the most important wintering areas for Common Loons in the U.S. Loons wintering in Florida and the southeastern US face a variety of threats. Surveys of beached birds along Florida's coasts have found more dead loons than all other seabird species combined. Although some is due to natural causes, elevated mercury levels may be increasing mortality. Mercury can be toxic, or poisonous, to loons.