Summary of Detection Data for Breeding Common Loons in North-central Minnesota (2024)

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 20, 2010 caused extensive injury to natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico, and Gavia immer (common loon) were negatively affected from the spill. The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group funded the project Restoration of Common Loons in Minnesota to restore common loons lost to the spill. In 2020–21, study lakes in a seven-county region in north-central Minnesota were identified to focus project activities. In 2024 surveys were conducted on these lakes to monitor common loon territory occupancy, nest success, and chick survival. This dataset represents a summary of data collected in 2024 and includes number of artificial nesting platforms (ANP), number of ANP and natural nests, nest success, number of chicks hatched, and number of chicks that survived to August surveys for 135 territories across 53 lakes within the seven-county study area. The 2021-2022 dataset can be located at https://doi.org/10.5066/P9LA536E. The 2023 dataset can be located at https://doi.org/10.5066/P13YB3AF. We intend to present formal analyses of these and subsequently-collected data after the completion of this multi-year study.