Preserving a Legacy
For 30 years, Journey North volunteers have heralded the arrivals and departures of migratory wildlife.
Loons, also known as divers in Europe, belong to the family Gaviidae. There are five extant species of loons:
Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata): The smallest and most widely distributed loon, it has a distinctive red throat patch during the breeding season. It breeds in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia and winters along coastlines.
Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica): Also known as the Black-throated Loon, it has a black throat in its breeding plumage.
January
- Living in Flocks: Robins in winter are found from north to south. Some robins are basking in south Texas and Florida while others are enduring the hardships of the northern winter. Many robins are somewhere in between. As long as they can find fruits or berries, some may stay close to their summer areas even in fall and winter. Because they move in search of food, robins are not as faithful to their wintering grounds as most other songbirds. Winter robins wander in flocks.
Various robin species exhibit unique migration patterns. While some embark on extensive journeys, traversing continents and even oceans, others follow shorter routes. The timing of their migration is influenced by factors such as climate conditions and food availability.
Courtship
As far as we are currently aware, the members of loon pairs do not spend the winter together. They typically migrate separately in the fall, winter separately, and then arrive back to breeding lakes at different times (the males tend to arrive a bit earlier than the females).