1997 Common Loon Survey Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
Beeman JL and Oelfke JG. 1997. 1997 Common Loon Survey Isle Royale National Park, Michigan. Resource Management Report 97-4. Isle Royale National Park. Houghton, MI
The annual Common Loon (Gavia immer) monitoring program at Isle Royale National Park was completed in 1997 to maintain continuous data on the size and productivity of the island's unique loon population. Forty-seven of the Island's interior lakes and 27 locations located along the Lake Superior shoreline were surveyed between 29 July and 11 September 1997 either by boat, canoe, kayak, or walking along the shoreline. Adult loons were recorded on 27 of the 47 interior lakes (57%) and 17 of the 27 Lake Superior sites (63%). Juvenile loons were present on nine of the interior lakes (19%) and four of the Lake Superior locations (15%), and totaled 20 young. Productivity was 0.42 young/pair for the Island population. Reproductive output in 1996 and 1997 was lower than in previous years. Seven lakes that were determined to be unsuitable for loons were removed from the survey. Ten other lakes have shown no productivity and, in some cases, have lacked loon presence altogether in the past seven years. However, the data are incomplete. An approach to determine their future in the loon survey is presented.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Beeman, Jennifer; Oelfke, Jack
- Date of Issue
- 1997-09
- Publisher
- Isle Royale National Park
- Units
- ISRO
- Keywords
- Birds (Aves), Common Loon (Gavia immer), Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, Population, Reproduction, Survey