Abstract
Three hypotheses are tested to explain the function of common loon social gatherings: Cooperative Foraging, Familiarity, and Reconnaissance. From 1993 to 1999, I studied social gatherings through behavioral observations in Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine. There was no or little evidence for the Cooperative Foraging Hypothesis. Partial or indirect evidence for the Familiarity Hypothesis included the following: (1) Social gatherings lasted both longer and occurred more frequently later in the breeding season (2) Approximately 25% of all the social gatherings observed occurred on neutral territories, and (3) Social gatherings consisted of the same individuals on consecutive days. Predictions from the Reconnaissance Hypothesis were also supported in that a large proportion of individuals participating in social gatherings were non-breeders and that the number of social gatherings observed were not equally distributed across loon territories, but instead increased on territories that had recently undergone a divorce. No one hypothesis was adequate to explain social gatherings and more observations on uniquely marked individuals are needed to further substantiate these initial findings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bartholomew, G. A. Jr., 1942. The fishing activities of Doublecrested Cormorants on San Francisco Bay. Condor 44: 13–21.
Barr, J. F., 1996. Aspects of common loon (Gavia immer) feeding biology on its breeding ground. Hydrobiologia 321: 119–144.
Belant, J. L., 1989. Loon productivity and habitat use in Northern Wisconsin. MS Thesis. Univ. of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.
Croskery, P. R., 1988. Flocking behavior of Common Loons (Gavia immer) in NorthIst Ontario: early-summer sites. In Strong, P. I. (ed.), Papers From 1987 Conf. Loon Res. Manage. North American Loon Fund, Meredith, NH: 66–75.
Daub, B., 1989. Behavior of Common Loons in winter. Journal of Field Ornithology 60: 305–311.
Evers, D. C., 1993. Population ecology of the Common Loon at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Michigan: results from the first color-marked breeding population. In Morse, L., S. Stockwell & M. Pokras (eds), Proc. 1992 Conf. Loon and its Ecosystem. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Concord, NH: 202–212.
Evers, D. C., 2001. Common Loon population studies: continental mercury patterns and breeding philopatry. Ph. D. Dissertation. University of Minnesota. Minneapolis, MN.
Evers, D. C., 2004. Status Assessment and Conservation Plan for the Common Loon (Gavia immer) in North America. U.S. Fish Wildlife Service, Hadley, Massachusetts.
Evers, D. C., J. D. Kaplan, P. S. Reaman, J. D. Paruk & P. Phifer, 2000. A demographic characterization of the common loon in the upper Great Lakes. In McIntyre, J. & D. C. Evers (eds), Loons: Old history and New Findings. Proceedings of a Symposium from the 1997 meeting, American Ornithologists’ Union. North American Loon Fund, Holderness, NH, 78–90.
McIntyre, J. W., 1978. Wintering behavior of Common Loons. Auk 95: 396–403.
McIntyre, J. W., 1988. The Common Loon: Spirit of Northern Lakes. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
McIntyre, J.W. & J. F. Barr, 1983. Pre-migratory behavior of Common Loons on the autumn staging grounds. Wilson Bulletin 95: 121–125.
McIntyre, J. W. & J. F. Barr, 1997. Common Loon (Gavia immer). In Poole, A. & F. Gill (eds), The Birds of North America, No. 313. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.
Nero, R. W., 1963. Birds of the Lake Athabasca region, Saskatchewan. Pages 33–39 in Special Publication 5, Saskatoon Natural History Society, Regina, Sask.
Nero, R. W., 1974. Summer flocks of common loons in Manitoba. Blue Jay 32: 113–114.
Olson, S. T., 1951. A study of the Common Loon (Gavia immer) in the Superior National Forest of northern Minnesota. MS thesis. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Paruk, J. D., 1999a. Behavioral ecology in breeding Common Loons (Gavia immer): cooperation and compensation. Ph.D. Dissertation, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID.
Paruk, J. D., 1999b. Territorial takeover in the Common Loon. Wilson Bulletin 111: 117–118.
Piper, W. H., J. D. Paruk, D. C. Evers, M. W. Meyer, K. B. Tischler, M. Klich & J. J. Hartigan, 1997. Local movements of color-marked Common Loons. Journal of Wildlife Management 61: 1253–1261.
Piper, W. P., K. B. Tischler & M. Klich, 2000. Territory acquisition in Loons: The importance of takeover. Animal Behaviour 59: 385–394.
Rand, A. L., 1948. Summer flocking of the Loon. Canadian Field-Naturalist 62: 42–43.
Reed, J. M. & L. W. Oring, 1992. Reconnaissance for future breeding sites by spotted sandpipers. Behavioral Ecology 3: 310–317.
Taylor, K. M. & H. Vogel, 1999. Demographic changes in New Hampshwere’s Common Loon breeding population, 1979–1998. In McIntyre, J. W. & D. C. Evers (eds), Loons: Old History and New Findings. Proceedings of the North American Loon Fund. Academic Press, Boston.
Vlietstra, L. S., 2000. Local variation in foraging strategies employed by wintering Common Loons. In McIntyre, J. & D. C. Evers (eds), Loons: Old History and New Findings. Proceedings of a Symposium From the 1997 Meeting, American Ornithologists’ Union. N. Am. Loon Fund, Holderness, NH, 25–34.
Wagner, R. H. & E. Danchin, 2003. Conspecific Copying: a general mechanism of social aggregation. Animal Behaviour 65: 405–408.
Zack, S. & B. J. Stutchbury, 1992. Delayed breeding in avian social systems:the role of territory quality and “floater” tactics. Behaviour 123: 195–219.
Zar, J. H., 1984. Biostatiscal Analysis (2nd edn). Prentice-Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Paruk, J.D. (2006). Testing hypotheses of social gatherings of common loons (Gavia immer). In: Hanson, A.R., Kerekes, J.J. (eds) Limnology and Aquatic Birds. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 189. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5556-0_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5556-0_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5167-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5556-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)