Loon chicks grow fast, fledge early to give parents a break

Date:

June 8, 2015

Source:

Central Ornithology Publication Office

Summary:

Raising healthy chicks is always a challenge, but in a cold, fish-free Arctic lake, it's an enormous undertaking. Red-throated Loon parents must constantly fly back and forth between their nesting lakes and the nearby ocean, bringing back fish to feed their growing young, and a new study suggests that the chicks grow fast and fledge while they're still small so that they can reach the food-rich ocean themselves and give their parents a break.

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