Are loons threatened by fishing boats?
A. Only if the fishing boats chase them or if they sit and fish in a spot near the loon’s nest. If they stay too close for too long, the loon will leave its nest, which makes the eggs vulnerable to heat, cold, or predators like crows. Photo: Dr. F.G. Irwin From: WASHINGTON Tonasket Middle School pbaumgardner@fs.fed.us Q. Loons nest in our highlands, and of course leave before the lakes freeze. We were surprised to see the common loon on the Audubon Christmas Bird count list for Lake Osoyoos, a large lake that spans the Washington Canadian border in the Okanogan Valley. Recently a bird in summer plumage was sighted with a bird in either juvenile or winter plumage on this lake. Osoyoos often freezes in the winter. It must have had open water somewhere on it this year, though it appeared to be frozen from several different shoreline vantages. How opportunistic are loons about their winter habitat? A. A loon in summer plumage was seen on the lake in winter? That would be a little surprisin
