By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, June 20, 2018
Summer arrives Thursday, bringing with it a reader favourite: Postmedia’s occasional series on the Science of Summer. Today Tom Spears looks at loons that wait for years for a chance to nest and raise chicks.
Walter Piper has been studying loons on Wisconsin lakes for a quarter of a century, learning a lot about the vicious fighting for territory among birds that seem calm and placid to the casual onlooker.
It was about four years ago that he started to notice the odd behaviour of one female loon.
The background: Male loons fight other males for territory. Females likewise try to drive away rival (nesting) females.
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/science-of-summer-female-loons-play-the-long-game-for-nesting-sites