Hi Tweets,

Chris Maack writes:

"The video (I'll have to find the exact reference for you if anyone insists)
said they are looking for approaching underwater enemies, the chief one of
which would be another loon seeking to drive them from the territory
(snip)
Before the [Pacific] loons arrive there are grebes, mallards and wigeons on
the lake, but after the loons get there, the other species usually vamoose.
I once found a dead red-necked grebe floating along the shoreline with one
leg hanging by a thread, the other cleanly amputated. We have no snapping
turtles, no sharks. Hmm, makes those loons look rather suspicious."

Are there any pike in that lake, Chris? Any other large carnivorous fish?
Otters? Any nesting Pied-billed Grebes? *They* can be like land-mines on the
legs and feet of other paddlers, particularly ducklings and cootlings (what
*do* you call them? We know they're not Cooties, but if they were hiding in
pondside vegetation, would they be Veiled Cootlets?).

I'd wonder why it is only the loons and mergansers that scope like this and
not, funnily enough in light of the above, the grebes? Why do Red-breasted
and Common Mergansers scope only in shallow water? Why don't the large
grebes, like the small ones, scope at all, since presumably they would be
competeting for the same fish as Common Loon (COLO)? Wouldn't smaller
seabirds be at equal risk from COLO intolerance, so why don't they scope at
all? If loons are so menacing, why isn't *everybody*--all three common loon
species, all the grebes but Clark's, all the sea and bay ducks but eiders,
all three Cascadian-coast cormorant species, in large mixed non-breeding
flocks (except where the kayakers are in forward motion)--which get together
in local waters, scoping like mad?

I've observed that most times when COLO are in conflict on the non-breeding
territorial waters of Burrard Inlet or, even more, along the S side of
Roberts Bank (between September and April, they're particularly numerous
between the Roberts Bank CoalPort and Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal jetties),
they approach to the edges of their territories, rear up face-to-face, then
stand around and wave their arms around a lot and yell at each other like
they do in Italian movies (well, that's what it *looks* like) until one's
intimidated enough to paddlewheel off, or each decides honor's been saved
and it parts with relative civility and much ritual preening back to feed or
doze in its own territory. While I've seen a few underwater sneaks such as
described so chillingly by Scott, all COLO on COLO, the vast majority of
conflicts between loons have been mere flag-waving rather than all-out
submarine warfare.

Since most loons don't do this on wintering territory, there's probably a a
seasonal, or age, or sexual component to this. There's lots of first- and
second-year COLO that are here all year round, yet they flock (10+ in
summering groups off Iona) in summertime, and migrating COLO family groups
flock in a *big*, compact group (200+) off the ferry berths at the end of
the Tsawwassen Jetty in Aug-Oct, without conflict or sneak attacks. So, out
of the whole loon population which on balance seems pretty peaceable,
exactly who is playing U-boats?

Michael Price The Sleep of Reason Gives Birth to Monsters
Vancouver BC Canada -Goya
mprice at mindlink.net