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Male loons are getting smaller, raising concern over the health of North American lakes

Male loons are getting smaller, raising concern over the health of North American lakes

The loons will soon be back, and the past year has brought startling scientific research that shows our best loved bird is not always what you thought it was. Walter Piper of Chapman University in California is the continent’s top researcher in loons and their behaviour. He tracks loons on hundreds of lakes in Wisconsin and Minnesota — similar, he says, to central Ontario, which he also knows. And he has found a problem.