What is the life spand of the common loon?
A. We believe that loons live to about 20-25 years although there are many possible causes of death at earlier ages. Until recent years, it has been difficult to track individual loons and determine ages because we had no way to capture and mark birds. David Evers, a loon researcher who was working in Upper Michigan in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s developed a capture and banding technique which has allowed us to color mark and band loons. We hope to have more information on ages of birds as our marked birds are observed or collected after death. Q. How far does the common loon migrate and where does it go in the spring and fall? Also, what habitats are they usually found in? A. Common loons migrate from their summer nesting habitats (on inland freshwater lakes) to wintering grounds on the oceans. Although individual birds may take different routes, in general loons in the northeastern U.S. (Maine, New Hampshire, etc.) migrate to the northern coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. Loons from
