International Center for Loon Conservation and Research
Important indicators of water quality and overall health of aquatic environments, loons have long been a high profile species. In 1989, David Evers discovered a reliable method of capturing this elusive bird; the ability to band individual birds opened opportunities to conduct demographic, behavioral, and contaminant studies. Dr. Evers spent most of the next decade capturing, sampling, and color-marking loons across the country, always with a high respect for the individual animal, teaching his methods to others along the way.
Loon capture not only provided a way to assess contaminant levels in our lakes and waterways, it later served as a means to determine how mercury pollution affects behavior and reproduction. The common loon is now considered the flagship wildlife species for national mercury monitoring and policymaking and BRI has become a world leader in loon research.
Jim Paruk joined BRI in January 2011 as the first director of the International Center for Loon Conservation and Research. The Center will continue expanding its research on the common and yellow-billed loons and will include additional species, such as red-throated loons.
“Loons inspire people to learn more about them, which is a good thing because it leads to an understanding of why conservation is important.”
— Jim Paruk, Ph.D., Director
The Center also is building collaborations with loon researchers in Europe and Russia. New initiatives include monitoring movements of offshore wintering red-throated loons along the Atlantic seaboard and studying the winter ecology of common loons in the Gulf of Mexico.
Center Director
Jim Paruk, Ph.D.
jim.paruk@briloon.org
207.839.7600 ext. 249
Research Biologist/Loon Initiatives Coordinator: Kate Taylor
Research Biologist/Loon Program Analyst: Carrie Osborne
Research Biologist/Winter Loon Program Coordinator: Darwin Long, IV
Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation Coordinator: Nina Schoch
Maine Program Coordinator: Mike Chickering
Collaborating Program Directors:Andrew Gilbert, Lucas Savoy, Chris DeSorbo, David Yates
Other Contributing BRI Staff: Dave Evers, Wing Goodale
Program Goals
Jim Paruk joined BRI in January 2011 as the first director of the International Center for Loon Conservation and Research to expand BRI’s research to include additional species, such as red-throated loons, and to examine emerging threats to loon conservation, such as climate change. Jim will be working with BRI’s loon research staff to further coordinate our research efforts throughout North America, including in Maine, New York’s Adirondack Park (through BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation), Alaska, and elsewhere, to better understand conservation issues concerning loons.
The Center also is building collaborations with loon researchers in Europe and Russia. Dr. Paruk heads a staff of five to coordinate efforts domestically and internationally. New initiatives include monitoring movements of offshore wintering red-throated loons along the Atlantic seaboard and studying the winter ecology of common loons in the Gulf of Mexico.
Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation:
Initiated in 2009, BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation evolved from the former Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program to enhance coordination of loon-mercury research in New York’s Adirondack Park with BRI’s International Center for Loon Conservation and Research, and its regional loon-mercury research in the Northeast. BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation merges the worlds of field research, public participation, outreach, and education to improve public awareness and understanding of loon natural history and conservation concerns impacting freshwater ecosystems, and to inspire science-based conservation strategies and policy implementation to minimize anthropogenic impacts on loon populations and their aquatic habitats.
WORKING GROUPS
The BioDiversity Research Institute holds a leadership role in several monitoring and working groups focused on loon conservation. Click below to learn more!
Recent Media And Reports
Article in Appalachia by BRI Partner Jeff Fair
Disappearance and the Loon
By: Jeff Fair
THIRTY YEARS AGO, WHEN I RETURNED TO NEW HAMPSHIRE’S Loon Preservation Committee as its director, the outfit was distributing a brochure entitled !e Vanishing Loon.
Dr. Jim Paruk Leads Earthwatch Institute Expedition in 2012
In early 2012 Dr. Jim Paruk will be leading an Earthwatch Institute expedition studying the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the common loon population in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dave Evers featured on the BBC's "A Life With..." Loons
Recent Publications and Resources
- DeSorbo, C.R., Fair, J., Taylor, K., Hanson, W., Evers, D.C., Vogel, H.S., Cooley Jr, J.H. 2008 Guidelines for constructing and deploying common loon nesting rafts. Northeastern Naturalist 15(1):75-86. pdf
- DeSorbo, C.R., Taylor, K.M., Kramar, D.E., Fair, J., Cooley Jr, J.H., Evers, D.C., Hanson, W., Vogel, H.S., Atwood, J.L. 2007. Reproductive advantages of common loons using rafts. Journal of Wildlife Management 71(4)1206-1213. pdf
- Evers, D.C., Savoy, L.J., DeSorbo, C.R., Yates, D.E., Hanson, W., Taylor, K.M., Siegel, L.S., Cooley Jr, J.H., Bank, M.S., Major, A., Munney, K., Mower, B.F., Vogel, H.S., Schoch, N., Pokras, M., Goodale, M.W., Fair, J. 2008. Adverse effects from environmental mercury loads on breeding common loons. Ecotoxicology 17(2):69-81 pdf
- Evers, D. C. 2007. Status assessment and conservation plan for the Common Loon (Gavia immer) in North America. BRI Report 2007-20. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hadley, MA. pdf