新媒网 · 跨境数据社区

This week’s featured loon is a female who was originally banded on Massabesic Lake in 2014, a year when she hatched chicks. This summer, she is at least 14, but more likely 17 or older. Her band combination is: left leg green over orange, right leg white over silver. Unfortunately, this female has not had an easy go of it. In 2014 (the year she was first banded), she and her mate produced 1 chick, which survived to fledging age. Sadly, that is the only chick that she has fledged in her documented nesting history. In 2015, this loon and her banded mate both returned to the same territory on the lake, nested together, and hatched two chicks. Unfortunately, a neighboring pair of loons on the lake, who were not successful at hatching chicks of their own that year, noticed this pair’s success and began intruding into the territory. In the course of the frequent fighting, the chicks were both lost. In 2016, this loon and her mate again returned to their part of the lake, but though they were seen testing out nest sites, they never actually put down eggs. In 2017, her banded mate moved on to greener pastures, winning his way into control of a nearby territory on the lake, which had a better history of nesting success. That summer, this female remained on the original territory and was joined there by a new, unbanded male. They did not nest, likely because they were frequently dealing with intruding loons. The same story played out from 2018–2020—though this female and her unbanded mate were consistently present on the territory, they never nested and instead spent their time intruding into other nearby territories. Finally, in 2021, they attempted to nest again on their part of the lake. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be—within a few days of laying their eggs, the loons abandoned their nest for unknown reasons. They did not attempt to nest again that summer. In 2022, there was more turmoil. This loon’s previous mate (the banded male who had partnered with her from 2014–2016 but them moved to a different territory from 2017–2021) was back, having apparently been evicted from his other territory. Now that she had a mate who she’d previously nested successfully with, we hoped that this female might hatch some chicks. But it was not to be—her mate spent much of the summer trying in vain to win back the other territory, so they did not nest. The same story played out in 2023. In 2024, this female once again partnered with the banded male, and he finally seemed to give up on winning back the neighboring territory. They nested successfully and hatched two chicks, this female’s first chicks hatched since 2015. Sadly, the chicks didn’t survive the summer. This summer (2025), she and a new mate (an unbanded male) nested early, and they have hatched two chicks! We wish this family well as they navigate the challenge of raising the chicks to fledging age. To date, this female’s story has been a tough one to follow—in the 11 breeding seasons since we’ve been tracking her, she’s fledged just 1 chick, for a known reproductive rate of 0.09 chicks surviving/year. This is well below the New Hampshire state average, and we hope that things improve for her this summer! Photos courtesy of John Rockwood.