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June 22, 2006  Off To The Submarine Races This year our local watershed group decided to participate in Loon Watch on one of the lakes in our jurisdiction. I was keen to participate and suggested a lake that is close to town and easy to watch. Exeter lake is less than a mile from the centre of 100 Mile House and I have noted in past years that while standing on Exeter Road I could see the whole lake quite clearly even though it was some distance below across a pasture. One of our watershed members is also a member of Bird Studies Canada, the group that organizes Loon Watch across Canada, so it was easy and cheap to join up online and receive the official Loon Watch forms. Having in past, failed at Feeder Watch, (I thought I could do it all at the last minute like taxes) I decided to read all the pertinent information before I undertook this task. Actually task is a harsh word to apply here since Exeter Lake is one of my favourite places to visit on a circuitous day of birding. As I understood it, the focus of Loon Watch was to note how many pairs of Loons nested on the lake during the time of the watch and record the survival of the young from the nesting pairs. It sounded simple enough. And with that I was off to do my first watching. Sunday morning is the best time of the week to watch Exeter Lake from Exeter Road because most of the time this busy industrial road, which also accesses the landfill site and a mill, thunders with heavy vehicles. Another plus to Sunday is that some of the businesses are closed and with a narrow shoulder preventing parking along the road, I could park in an unused driveway. With van parked safely, I shouldered my scope and walked to a spot on the road where I could see both ends of the lake. On fist glance there was not one Loon in sight. I remembered that the Loon Watch information suggested giving each watching session a little time because Loons might be off the lake temporarily. I often saw Loons flying 'laps' as I call them, over town in the morning. If a Loon didn't take to the air every day for some exercise, flying south when the time came would be impossible due to lack of muscle tone. So I waited. Clay-coloured Sparrows, which seem very plentiful on Exeter Road this year, sang all around me. A Vesper Sparrow out in the pasture joined in. Overhead Barn and Cliff Swallows chattered, the Cliff Swallows sounding like someone grinding their teeth. From the edge of the 43-hectare lake below I could pick out the calls of both the Virginia and Sora Rails. An Eastern Kingbird sat in a dead pine to my right. OK, enough patience - it was time to bear down. I scanned the far shore slowly. When I reached the west end I saw something. Was it… yes, it was a Loon sitting on a nest. Suddenly there was another Loon out in front of the incubating bird. I was Loon watching! Turning my attention to the east-end I now saw a Loon in a narrow neck of water near the outflow of the Lake. Near that bird was another Loon. Though I watched for some time neither east-end bird moved much but assumed they were a pair. Great, things were going just as I predicted. I had, in past years, causally observed two pairs of loons on this lake and felt that it was big enough to accommodate two Loon families. I returned five days later and took up my roadside position. The west-end loons were easy to spot, one on the nest and the other on the lake in front. The east-end pair though, was nowhere to be seen. Again I waited and again it wasn't a trying time with many species of birds singing and flying around me. After some time I decided to leave and shouldered my scope. As I walked back to the van I heard a Loon calling and stopped. It was close. It had to be the east enders. I scanned in the direction of the sound and there they were, both parent birds with small loonettes swimming between them. (Loonettes isn't the official name for young loons but chicks or ducklings doesn't seem like the right word either.) My loon watching was unfolding beautifully. My most recent visit to Exeter Lake, on Sunday, however, was not business as usual. I set up my scope roadside expecting things to be rather predictable. What did I see? Nothing at first, which was a little alarming. Then, about mid-lake a pair of loons appeared without young in tow. To their right, and swimming in their direction, another pair of loons appeared and neither of them had young. The Loons were on a collision course. Was a battle about to ensue? No, there was a mingling and then shortly after they all began diving for food. Then from overhead I heard a Loon call. I watched it through the scope as it sailed in without flapping and landed on the lake right near the first four loons. A short time later I heard another loon flying overhead and it too joined the others. Now there were six Loons swimming together. This did not make sense. Where were the nesting pairs or were they among this flock of birds that were all bereft of offspring? Turning my attention to other parts of the lake I spotted yet another pair of Loons swimming toward the six, these were coming from the west-end. Was this my nesting west-end pair? No. On closer inspection I could see that there were 3 loons in the group making a grand total of 9 loons and no juveniles. Totally flummoxed I left, vowing to return in the afternoon for a much closer look. It was warm and overcast later in the day, perfect for a walk to the lake's edge. I did not do a preliminary scan of the lake when I arrived, simply threw the scope on my shoulder, clambered over the iron gate and walked down the steep road to the water's edge. Finding a round-topped knoll I set up the scope and began watching the variety of Swallows on a line near the water. I always welcome a chance to see the violet-green Swallow and here it was among Rough-wings, Tree and Barn Swallows. I sensed, as I watched other birds, that I was slowly sneaking up on the idea of finding the Loons that had earlier thrown me a curve ball. Finally I tilted the scope upward to take in the lake's surface. Was that a Loon on a nest? Yes it was. It was my west ender right where she should be with her mate sleeping on the water a little ways from the shore. Perhaps, this morning, she was obscured by vegetation that had recently grown up. With that success in the bag I marched east hoping to have similar luck with the east-enders. Shortly after, on another knoll, I set up the scope and trained it on a likely looking grouping. At the edge of the reeds floated an adult and a young loon, both asleep. This had to be the east-end nester which, obviously, had lost one of her brood. Too bad. And now if I could only find the mate to this one, things would be put to rights. Just then I heard a Loon murmur. An adult Loon was idling in the middle of the lake. The adult west-end Loon began to berate it in typical Loon fashion. These were the two nesting pairs. It took a little doing but I finally had all my Loons in a row. I guess I'll never know what happened to the 9 unattached Loons I saw earlier, but I was happy that my Loon Watch was back on a simple track. I was also glad it was me who suggested that watching the Loons of Exeter Lake was going to be easy, otherwise I'd have to tell someone off. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column "CLICK HERE |
