Plants for a Loon Nesting Platform

Who doesn't enjoy the call of the loons? Our loons are quite vocal this time of year prior to nesting.  They are swimming around the artificial nesting platform in front of our property. Last year I received a question from my neighbor about what to plant on the platform.  And after a bit of research I provided him a list and am sharing it in this post.  ​

If you live on a lake and want to consider a nesting platform, start by checking out the permit requirements from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  We needed a permit for the platform pictured above.   I also recommend Northland College's LoonWatch as an excellent resource.  But back to the plants.  

Plant with indigenous vegetation (about 2 bushels) including ferns of all kinds, grasses, sedge mat, mosses, sheep laurel, blue flag iris, cattail, bulrush, and other emergent vegetation. Please do not use purple loosestrife or other non-native, invasive species.   

Maine Audubon has excellent information including how to plant a platform garden: "Always plant your platform with the nesting spot in mind.  Form a large dish shaped nest with mud, sand, dead vegetation and twigs (about 18" diameter and 4" high), then surround the nest on three sides with plants such as small alder bushes, grasses, reeds and sedges.  Leave one of the chick ramp sides without vegetation for easier access.  Arrange tall plants around the nest to provide the brooding loon with shade from intense sun and to shield it from avian predators such as eagles, gulls and crows.  Do not overload the platform, as it needs to hold the weight of one or two loons, as well as the vegetation." 

​Options (all native to Wisconsin except annuals):

• Cool Season Grasses (these emerge in spring) such as Canada wild-rye, Redtop, Tufted hair grass (Deschampsia caespitosa), Nodding wild rye, June grass (Koeleria Macrantha), Blue Joint Grass (Calamagrostis canadensis), Sweet Grass (Hierochloe adorata)

• Sedges:  Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica), Common Wood Sedge (Carex blanda), Lake Sedge (Carex lacustris), Fox Sedge (Carex vulpinoidea)

• Bulrushes:  Softstem Bulrush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani), Hardstem Bulrush (Scirpus acutus), River Bulrush (Scirpus fluviatilis), Green Bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens)
• Shrubs:  Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrine), Dogwood, American Hazelnut, Bush Honeysuckle, Pussy Willow, Common Elder, White Meadowsweet, Alder
• Other perennials:  Blue flag iris, Ferns
• Annual (non-native) grasses:  Buckwheat, soybean, oats