After working five all night Loon banding days with a day off in the middle you lose tract of time in there somewhere, mostly sleep. I missed the first night of banding in the Saranac Lake Area as we had a Loon with fishing line down here on Limekiln Lake to catch and release. Got a call from the caretaker at Limekiln Campsite that there was a Loon caught in fishing line seen on the lake. Since it was in the area where the Outlet pair had chicks, I assumed it was one of them and I was right. I got a hold of Amy Sauer to help with the rescue. Last seen in the bay by the boat ramp I got there before dark to see If I could locate the Loon before Amy came. I saw a Loon in the bay, but it swam under water from one side of the bay to the other and I saw no line on this bird. Amy came and we searched with lights around the bay, then started down behind the little Island there.
Posts Tagged ‘loon’
My Loon Friend: A Story of Trust and Healing
By Ronni Tichenor
We have a camp on the south shore of 4th Lake, in the Fulton Chain, and early one morning in August, I was on our dock practicing my yoga. I was about to release my Down Dog position, when movement on the water caught my eye. It was a loon, less than ten feet off the dock, swimming slowly by. I froze, fearing that any movement would scare it and cause it to dive, which meant I could not see very clearly because, in my head-down position, my hair hung over my face. The loon appeared to have a fish in its mouth—but then I thought I could see little legs on the side, so I said, “No—it’s a crawfish.” We had seen a couple of loon families in the previous days, so I thought the loon was delivering breakfast to someone. Once it had swum away, my husband came down to the dock. He had been up at the house, watching from a distance. “Wow,” he said, “that was so close.” We went on about our day—he went for a bike ride, I went for a walk.
Loon Conservation Center rescues birds trapped in ice
The afternoon of Valentine’s Day, we received a report of 3 loons iced-in a small puddle near the west shore of Lake George, with an eagle sitting on the edge of the ice. Apparently a 4th loon had already met its demise, so it was important to rescue these trapped birds as soon as possible. Being late in the day, it was decided to attempt the rescue the following morning.
That area of the lake had just frozen in the previous week with a couple of days of below-zero temps, so the loons were trapped by quickly forming ice. We’ve had a relatively mild winter, thus some loons had wintered over on Lakes Champlain and George.
At this time of year, loons are molting out of their winter plumage and into their black and white breeding plumage. They also completely lose their flight feathers, so they are flightless for about a month until the new ones grow in. Thus, they can easily become trapped in a small pool of water if the ice forms quickly.
A Look Inside New Adirondack Loon Center
The Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation began in 1998 and was run out of Executive Director Nina Schoch’s residence before moving in with Adirondack Hamlets to Huts in 2016. In April, the organization received its non-profit status and a new location for its center at 15 Broadway in Saranac Lake.
The new space will accommodate its growth – triple the number of full-time workers – and plans to expand education offerings. Here’s a look inside: » Continue Reading.
For Our Friend, The Loon
By Paul Sorgule
This morning I read a small letter to the editor in the Adirondack Enterprise about a loon that was apparently killed by a boater in the channel between Lake Flower and Oseetah Lake. I was struck with profound sadness and a touch of anger. For many years, that loon held court on Lake Flower and was a welcome and highly anticipated sign of Spring. For many years he seemed to be without a mate, until this year. There was an obvious gleeful change in his daily routine and soon we were blessed to notice a pair of newborn chicks riding on their mother’s back. It was this loon’s soothing coo in the early morning that signaled how special it was to live in this Adirondack Community.
When we were on the lake (oftentimes in the late afternoon) we would coast around hoping to see him feeding. He had become accustomed to people and sometimes treated us to his presence just 15 or 20 feet off our bow. It was thrilling to watch him dive for fish only to pop up 50 or 60 yards away -loons are excellent swimmers. Maybe he became too familiar with people and failed to understand the dangers that this familiarity brings. While we drifted in our boat if we ever crept too close, he would let us know by fluttering his wings or letting out a distinctive sound that could only mean “back off”. Then he would settle down and provide a pose for another picture to add to our files.
» Continue Reading.