You can’t step into a northern Wisconsin gift shop without seeing the dark red eyes and black-and-white spotted backs of loons stamped on postcards, magnets and T-shirts.
The common loon is a symbol of the Northwoods, its mournful call evoking images of warm summer days away from the hustle of daily life.
But the real-life birds may be in jeopardy, according to a recent study.
Wisconsin’s loon population has dropped 22% over the past three decades. The study shows that the declines are likely due to lakes becoming less clear from climate change and land use.
Walter Piper, a behavioral ecologist at Chapman University in Orange, California, and an author on the study, said that reproductive success – or the ability of a loon to have a chick that lives to have its own offspring – is down in Wisconsin. It’s only a matter of time until there are steeper declines, Piper said.
“I’m on pins and needles every year,” he said.
Here’s how climate change and land use are affecting the treasured Northwoods bird.
Loons need cold, clean water with natural shorelines
Common loons breed in freshwater lakes from Alaska across much of Canada, including parts of a number of other U.S. states, like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, which are the southern tip of their range.