| Upcoming Events |
Loon Cruises on
Squam Lake
Mondays & Fridays, June 5 - August 28;
3 pm
July 6, 7:30 pm
|
|
Do You Like to Swim?
|
The Swim 2017 team is still looking for swimmers. They are a fun and non-competitive group of folks who love to swim and want to raise money for loon preservation on
Squam Lake.
Please contact LPC at 603-476-5666 and we will put you in touch with Wendy Van de Poll for more details.
|
| Contact Us |
|
P.O. Box 604
Lee's Mill Road
Moultonborough, NH 03254
|
|
|
In case you have not heard, we have set up the loon cam on another nest in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire! See below for more information about this pair and some photos and videos that we have captured so far. Again, the live loon cam can be viewed on our website (www.loon.org) or on LPC's YouTube channel. The loons are incubating two eggs that will hopefully hatch within the next 9 days, but it could be as early as July 6!
Summer is really getting into full swing at The Loon Center. Our 2017 Summer Nature talks series gets underway on July 6 with Kittie Wilson sharing photographs and stories of her time observing loons in Biddeford Pool, Maine, during the winter. All of the talks begin at 7:30 pm and are free and open to the public. Click here for the full schedule.
Ryan Buchanan is hosting the 4th annual "Save the Loons" Fishing Derby on Chocorua Lake on July 8. He started this fishing derby when he was only a freshman in high school because he wanted to raise awareness about the issue of lead fishing tackle and loons. Proceeds from the fishing derby will support both LPC and the Chocorua Lake Conservancy. Quite impressive for a young man!
The following week, on July 15, is our annual Loon Census, followed by the Loon Festival, a free family event held at The Loon Center from 10 am - 2 pm. If you would like to help count loons during the one-hour event from 8 - 9 am, please contact me at [email protected]. Afterwards, stop by The Loon Center for balloon creations by Mo, face painting, loon slideshows, refreshments, and a chance to dunk one of our field biologists in the dunk tank!
|
|
|
Bulls-eye! 2016 North Country field biologist, Heather Meader, goes for a dip in the dunk tank after a good pitch!
|
As many of you know, one chick hatched from our other webcam, but the adults abandoned the second egg on June 19. It was collected by LPC Senior Biologist John Cooley and Lakes Region field biologist Lindsay Moulton on June 20. If you missed the video of the egg collection, you can watch it here. The egg has not been opened yet, but I will keep you posted when I learn more.
As of late June, LPC field biologists have confirmed more than 120 nesting pairs around the state and so far about 45 chicks have hatched! I'll give you another update in my next email. Please make sure to give adult loons and their chicks plenty of space--it's a full-time job to raise one or two chicks and the adults need to focus their energy on taking care of the chicks and themselves. We just produced a new fact card called "You Can Help Loons!" Stop by The Loon Center to pick some up if you would like to distribute them or click here to download the pdf.
One last thing I want to share with you is a rescue story from a lake in Harrisville, NH. Here's a short account from our Monadnock field biologist Emily Gross:
"One night, I received a text about a loon with a ball of monofilament hanging out of its bill. After checking on the loon, we realized the situation was more urgent than expected. I could go right up to the loon without it diving!
With the help of a few volunteers on the lake, we headed out on a boat to attempt a rescue. When we got there the loon was back on the nest, so I walked through the water right up to the loon and grabbed it off the nest. I quickly took it to Wings of the Dawn in Henniker, where we tested it for lead poisoning and removed the monofilament. It was soon given a clean bill of health so we released it quickly back on the lake since there were two eggs in the nest due to hatch any day. Upon release, the loon dove, flapped, and called to its partner as it swam off into the sunset (seems like a fairy tale, huh?). I have now confirmed the family is doing well when I saw all four swimming together this past week- the two adults and the two new chicks."
Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July,
|
|
|
LPC is Streaming Another LIVE Loon Cam!
That's right, you read it correctly....LPC has a live loon cam set up on another nest in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire! All of the stars aligned this year, with an
early-ish hatch from the first nest and a second site already in mind to set-up the webcam. This nest site is quite different from the first webcam site as this nest is located on an island and the other one was on a hummock. This nest site provides a little more protection--the overhanging trees and boulders help keep it pretty well hidden and cooler too!
This pair started nesting around June 11, so the expected hatch date is July 8; however it could be as early as July 6 (average incubation for loons in NH is 28 days, but some loon nests have hatched as early as 25 days). Only the female loon in this pair is banded, so keep an eye out for a flash of color on her legs when they switch places on the nest or when she rotates the eggs. She was originally banded on this territory in 2009 and has yellow and white bands on her left leg and silver and green on her right leg. This video of a nest exchange from a few days ago gives you a good view of the bands.
|
|
|
The female gets ready to climb back on the nest to incubate 2 eggs.
|
This nest is located in a highly populated area so the microphone has been muted. We are investigating ways to make it less sensitive to outside noises, but it's something we might not be able to fix this year. While it may be disappointing not to hear nature sounds in the background, just remind yourself how amazing it is to even be able to watch a pair of nesting loons up close from the comfort of our home or office! Someone mentioned that they have been playing
loon calls in the background for their own special effect
|
|
|
In the photo above, the female is anxiously awaiting her turn to get back on the nest.
|
Keep an eye out on LPC's Facebook page & Twitter feed for updates on this nest. As always, if you happen to catch an interesting event while watching the loon cam, please feel free to send us an email so we can look for it in the archived footage.
Click here to view the live loon cam!
|
Caption This Photo!
If you could write a caption for the photo below,
what would it say?
|
|
|
Photo courtesy of Kittie Wilson.
|
|
|
| |
|
The Loon Preservation Committee is dedicated to restoring and maintaining a healthy population of loons throughout New Hampshire; monitoring the health and productivity of loon populations as sentinels of environmental quality; and promoting a greater understanding of loons and the natural world.
Sincerely,
Susie Burbidge
Outreach/Volunteer Coordinator
Loon Preservation Committee
|
|
|
