She’s the Oldest Frequent Loon within the World. She Simply Had Her forty second Chick

The cleaning soap opera continues: The world’s oldest frequent loon hatched two chicks this yr, lengthening her record-setting streak as a profitable mom.

Fe (pronounced “fay”), a feminine loon who’s not less than 38 years outdated, had one other fruitful breeding season at Seney Nationwide Wildlife Refuge on the Higher Peninsula of Michigan. Already the world’s best loon, Fe has now hatched not less than 42 offspring.

Damon McCormick, co-director of the nonprofit Frequent Coast Analysis & Conservation, shared the information on the refuge’s Fb web page final month. The group helps conservation and analysis efforts at Seney.

“Fe, the oldest documented Frequent Loon, hatched two chicks final week together with her unbanded … mate,” wrote McCormick on July 19. “The younger had been, at minimal, Fe’s forty first and forty second offspring, extending her file for the species.”

However even because the world’s most fruitful frequent loon, Fe nonetheless suffers the occasional loss. One in all her two chicks this yr died shortly after hatching, from an unknown trigger. That’s common, as one in 5 loon hatchlings at Seney don’t survive to autumn, per McCormick. However loon hatchlings have the next survival price on the refuge than younger geese, geese and swans do.

If her second chick makes it via the summer season, meaning 86 % of Fe’s offspring can have fledged efficiently.

Fe initially rose to fame as one half of the “resident energy couple” on the 95,000-acre wildlife refuge. For greater than twenty years, she paired up with a male named ABJ, who’s now 37 years outdated.

The 2 first obtained collectively in 1997 and returned to Seney every spring to mate, ultimately making headlines as the 2 oldest loons on the planet. Frequent loons usually are not monogamous, however ABJ and Fe spent 25 breeding seasons collectively, elevating dozens of chicks and amassing a loyal following of human followers.

However in 2022, the pair shocked the world by ending their long-running partnership. It’s not solely clear why they parted methods, however scientists suspect they obtained pushed out of their traditional pond by a youthful couple and fled to completely different elements of the refuge.

That very same spring, Fe mated with an unnamed male and hatched her fortieth chick. The next yr, within the spring of 2023, Fe and her new companion tried to breed once more however had been unsuccessful.

ABJ, in the meantime, spent the 2022 breeding season alone. In 2023, he paired up with a feminine named Daisy, who was 20 years his junior, however their rendezvous didn’t produce any chicks. Final yr, he additionally broke the higher a part of his invoice—in all probability throughout a struggle with one other male—nevertheless it later healed.

This yr, when the frequent loons returned to Seney within the spring, onlookers had been wanting to see whether or not Fe and ABJ would possibly get again collectively. But it surely wasn’t meant to be: Fe took again up together with her new male companion, whereas ABJ once more tried—and failed—to breed with Daisy. (This time, scientists suppose a male challenged ABJ and “forcibly evicted” him from his territory with Daisy, in response to one other Fb publish from McCormick.)

Biologists know a lot about ABJ, Fe and different frequent loons at Seney due to a long-running banding and monitoring program maintained by volunteers and workers. ABJ was banded as a chick 37 years in the past, whereas Fe was banded in 1990, the primary yr on file that she reproduced. Scientists suppose Fe was not less than 4 years outdated on the time, which might make her 38 now, however they’ll solely guess at what occurred earlier than that.

“As her earlier life historical past within the Nineteen Eighties is a thriller, Fe may effectively be older than 38, and with greater than 42 progeny to her credit score,” McCormick writes on Fb. (Earlier than linking up with ABJ in 1997, Fe produced not less than seven chicks with a male named Dewlap.)

Frequent loons are water birds that breed on freshwater lakes within the northern United States and Canada. When temperatures begin to plummet within the fall, they migrate east and west to the hotter, coastal waters of each the Atlantic and the Pacific.

In the summertime, breeding adults have distinctive black and white plumage that grows in checkered and striped patterns. These birds are well-adapted to life on the water: They spend a lot of their time floating on the floor or swimming submerged, the place they use their lengthy payments to catch fish. Loons have stable bones, which units them aside from most different birds, which have pneumatized, or hole, bones. Their denser skeletons make them very good divers.

This article by Sarah Kuta was first revealed by The Smithsonian on 7 August 2024. Lead Picture: Fe (pictured together with her mate) hatched two chicks this breeding season, bringing the entire variety of her identified offspring to 42. Dani Fegan / Seney Nationwide Wildlife Refuge through Fb. 

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