Desjardins canal, Dundas, ON. May 17 2022. A friend, Bob, took me to some of his hot-spots for some warbler catch-up time this morning. It was a perfect morning and he delivered some fine birds, Wood Thrush, Hooded Warbler, Veery and Mourning Warbler included. Any of those might have been my Bird of the Day had it not been for a call from him later to tell me of a Red–throated Loon just found on a nearby canal. I was close any way and headed over. Here it is, with thanks to photographer Doug Ward.
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It should be on its way from the Atlantic coast to its high-Arctic nesting grounds. But something’s amiss. There’s a tale unfolding that yesterday it had crash-landed onto a forest path, was picked up (unable to get airborne) and released into the canal (which gets much of its water from a sewage treatment plant.)
Loons are known to mistakenly put down on ice-covered roads, misjudging ice as water; but it beggars belief that a loon within sight of Lake Ontario and in its right mind would land on a forest path, unless, either it was demented or the path was waterlogged (it did rain yesterday). Once on land though loons can’t take flight, their legs aren’t made for lifting or walking let alone launching it airborne. Apparently plans are afoot to recapture and remove it from the absurdity of this canal and release it onto nearby Lake Ontario. We can only hope.
Please post an update. How will transferring it to Lake Ontario facilitate its trip north? And if it can’t fly, what happens next? Thanks very much, Peter.
Lake Ontario is just a cleaner, more food-productive, more appropriate place for it to rest up (as many R-T Loons do on migration) . It should be able to take off from water if it’s healthy – they cant take off from land as explained.
Thanks Peter. I read your post early this morning and made the drive from London, hoping that the loon would still be alive and present. I’m happy to say that both things were true when I left at around 9AM. Beautiful bird!
I too would like to read an update when one is available. Good news or bad, this miracle of nature deserves the publicity.
Hopefully it will get checked out by a rehabilitator before it is released again. Fingers crossed.
With the weather we had on the weekend it wouldn’t take dementia to bring down a flying loon in the wrong place. Many people, animals, and structures ended up in the wrong place in southern Ontario. I hope this one gets better and stronger and can resume its journey. When I heard of this bird I knew it was off-course, but I didn’t realize how far from its destination it is till I looked up its summer range!