Common Loons in Toronto

Lake Ontario at Colonel Sam Smith Park on 25 May 2007. Scroll down for three photos.

Common Loon in adult breeding (definitive alternate) plumage. There were still 14 Common Loons staging on Lake Ontario at Colonel Sam Smith Park in Toronto on 25 May 2007.

Common Loon in first basic plumage on Lake Ontario in Toronto on 25 May 2007. Most Common Loons spend their first year of life on salt water near where they wintered. A few return to the Great Lakes such as this individual, but rarely get as far as the breeding grounds. Common Loons are very rare on the Great Lakes in winter. Most birds hatched in Ontario winter along the Atlantic Coast.

Same birds as above on 25 May 2007. Young Common Loons do not migrate or associate with their parents after leaving the breeding grounds in the fall so seeing these two age classes together does not indicate that they are an adult with last year's young.