You can follow 13 young Minnesota loons as they make their way south as part of one of the most ambitious
loon research projects ever conducted.

The loons, which are wearing electronic tracking devices, are gathering in large groups in Minnesota lakes, getting ready to make their way to Gulf coast where they will live for the next two years as they mature. A web site created by the researchers tracks each loon in the study as it moves from lake to lake.

Scientists will use those and other loons from Wisconsin and Michigan to determine what effect the Gulf oil spill
will have on their long term health. The birds will return in two years, and when they are five years old, they will
mate and start reproducing.

Star Tribune photo


It's part of a larger study led by Kevin Kenow of the U.S. Geological Survey that is trying to figure out why so many loons die from botulism poisoning in southwest Lake Michigan. Loons from Minnesota and elsewhere usually stop there to fatten up for their long flight south. But for reasons that are not understood, large numbers of them are often found dead from poisoning.

Some experts believe that the deaths may be linked to invasive species in the Great Lakes. The birds are eating invasive goby fish, which eat invasive quagga mussels that could carry the deadly bacteria. Researchers attach geo-locator tags and satellite transmitters to the loons' legs, which keeps a record of where they go and how deep they dive for food. They hope that the data will tell them where they encounter contaminated fish, and how botulism gets into the aquatic food web.

The hard part comes later when researchers have to re-capture them and take the transmitters off their legs to collect the data. But that won't happen until next spring.

Star Tribune photo