PATIENT:  Common Loon, #11-2641

LOCATION OF RESCUE:  Rockingham County, Virginia

CIRCUMSTANCE OF ADMISSION:   Trapped on a pond

ADMISSION DATE:  December 9, 2011

OUTCOME:  Died December 21, 2011

On the evening of Friday, December 9, the Wildlife Center of Virginia admitted Common Loon #11-2641. The immature loon was rescued earlier in the afternoon from a near small farm pond in Rockingham County, Virginia. The loon was observed on the pond for more than ten days before it was rescued by concerned members of the Rockingham Bird Club. They noted that loon appeared disoriented and would often swim ashore—where it was unable to walk well. The Center’s veterinary staff now believes that the loon may have been trapped on the pond. Common Loons are unable to fly from land because the positioning of their legs prevents them from running quickly or long enough to gain the momentum they need to attain flight; furthermore, loons need up to 200 meters of water surface in order to take off. This means it is likely that the loon was unable to leave the pond after it landed there.

After it arrived, the loon was examined by Dr. Miranda Sadar, who identified scars in the bird’s eyes, but found no other noticeable or recent injuries. After spending the night in an enclosure inside the hospital’s holding area, the Common Loon #11-2641 was placed in the hospital’s swimming tub Saturday morning, so that the hospital staff could determine whether or not it was waterproof. Like other aquatic birds, the Common Loon needs to be waterproof before it can be released.  Aquatic birds that are not waterproof generally die from drowning or from exposure. After a few hours of swimming, the hospital staff observed that the loon was soaked through to its skin. 

On Sunday, December 11, additional blood work revealed some abnormalities with the loon’s white blood cells, which could be the result of chronic illness or inflammation. Center veterinarians prescribed antibiotic and antifungal medications for the Common Loon. 

The loon is eating well and members of the rehab staff are stocking the freezer with silverside fish.  The diet of this loon is a lot to keep up with – it is currently eating a bag of silversides a day, which is more than 200 grams! To put this in perspective, this is more than some of the Center’s education birds weigh. 

For now, the veterinary team is placing the loon in the hospital swimming tub each morning so that the loon can spend the day swimming and working on its waterproofing, which involves a combination of re-arranging its feathers through preening and spreading glandular oils on them for conditioning. The rehabilitation and veterinary staff will continue to monitor #11-2641’s progression, and if it is able to improve its waterproofing, it will begin acclimating in an outdoor swimming tub during the day.

December 20 update

Common Loon #11-2641 continues to spend most its day in the hospital swimming tub eating lots and lots of silversides. The Center’s veterinary and rehabilitation staff have noticed a marked improvement in the loon’s waterproofing and the loon is expected to be transferred to an outdoor swimming tub later this week. Until then, the loon will remain in its tub during the day and in a holding enclosure at night. And it will eat. And eat … and eat. At the moment the loon is now consuming over 450 grams of fish a day! This is double what it was eating last week and the loon shows no indication of slowing down.  The Center’s rehabilitation staff is scrambling to keep up with #11-2641’s increasing appetite; they have ordered another twenty bags of silversides and they are hoping this will be enough to last through the holidays.

December 22 update

On December 21, the Common Loon was moved to an outside swimming tub for the afternoon.  The much-larger swimming area was set up in one of the Center’s bear pens, so that the loon could safely swim around in a covered area without escaping.

Within 15 minutes of moving outside, the loon died. This came as quite a shock to the staff, especially since the loon had gradually been making improvements with its waterproofing condition and continuing to eat well.  

One of the veterinary externship students promptly performed a necropsy on the loon.  Externship student Fred found that the loon had aspergilliosis – a fungal infection.  The veterinary team suspects that the loon had been battling this infection for several weeks.  Even though the loon was already on anti-fungal medication and antibiotics, Center veterinarians also suspect the loon had developed a bacterial infection. 

The Center depends on the donations of caring individuals to provide veterinary care to wildlife like this Common Loon. Please help!