Posts Tagged ‘Loons’

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Adirondack Loon Researchers Need Money

ACLCLogoThe Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation got its start more than a decade ago (albeit under a different name) with the mission of monitoring a bird that appeared to be in trouble–from acid rain, mercury contamination, lead sinkers, and other environmental threats. Now it appears the researchers are in trouble.

Nina Schoch, coordinator of the center, hopes to raise about $20,000 over the next few weeks to hire field staff to monitor loon nesting on some ninety lakes across the Adirondack Park. She has had monitors in the field for the past eleven summers, but she doesn’t have enough money  to hire them this year. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Rubber Loons Flocking Back to Adirondacks

ESF loonThe Adirondack Interpretive Center (AIC) celebrates the beginning of spring with plans for its second rubber loon race, billed as the only event of its kind in the United States. “Common loons migrate back to their breeding grounds in the Adirondacks in the spring. Our rubber loons will be back in action, too,” AIC Program Coordinator Paul Hai said.

Dubbed the “Loon Drive,” the race will be a highlight of the Memorial Day Weekend festivities that celebrate the AIC’s second year of operation as part of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Newcomb Campus. The college took ownership of the facility in 2011. The loon race last year used American-made rubber waterfowl manufactured by CelebriDucks of California. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Volunteers Needed Saturday to Survey Adirondack Loons

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Adirondack Program has issued a call for volunteers to help census loons on Adirondack lakes as part of the 11th Annual Adirondack Loon Census taking place from 8:00–9:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 21. With the help of local Adirondack residents and visitor volunteers, the census enables WCS to collect important data on the status of the breeding loon population in and around the Adirondack Park and across New York State. The results help guide management decisions and policies affecting loons.

Census volunteers report on the number of adult and immature loons and loon chicks that they observe during the hour-long census. Similar loon censuses will be conducted in other states throughout the Northeast simultaneously, and inform a regional overview of the population’s current status.  One of the major findings of the 2010 census: The Adirondack loon population has almost doubled since the last pre-census analysis in the 1980s, and now totals some 1,500–2,000 birds. A new analysis however, demonstrates the threat environmental pollution poses for these iconic Adirondack birds.  » Continue Reading.


Sunday, May 27, 2012

Cabin Life: Wonders of Wildlife

There was a loon swimming off the beach this morning, its haunting call reminding me of years past.  In college, I lived on one of the several Loon Lakes here in the Adirondacks.  It was great until the loons showed up, all six pairs of them.  They wouldn’t shut up all night.

I know from experience that loons are smart animals.  As large as a goose, but barely able to walk, their black and white body with red eyes are an iconic part of the Adirondacks.  I used to monitor banded loons and their nests, and after a few weeks of kayaking around them, I was often treated to the loons swimming under my boat and tagging along on the weekly paddles. » Continue Reading.


Friday, May 18, 2012

AIC Marks One Year With Rubber Loon Race

A flock of floating rubber loons, believed to be the world’s first loons based on a traditional rubber duck concept, will splash into water May 26 for a race along the Rich Lake Outlet, part of the Adirondack Interpretive Center’s (AIC) celebration of its first anniversary under the leadership of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Any member of the public who wishes to participate may sponsor an individual loon. Sponsors of the top finishers will receive prizes that include gift certificates to regional restaurants and shops and four free rounds of golf at the High Peaks Golf Course. Proceeds from loon sponsorships will support educational programs at the AIC. The loon race will be the highlight of a daylong event called Logs and Loons that will include programs and educational sessions.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, October 31, 2011

Adironack Wildlife: The Fall Loon Migration

It is typically in November when ice forms on the many ponds and lakes across the Adirondacks. This inevitable transition from a watery world into an icy plain causes the loon to abandon its summer home in remote wilderness locations and seek out an environment in which it can survive until the spring.

This process of relocation begins with the loons leaving their more traditional breeding grounds in remote ponds and back country lakes and moving to larger lakes in the same general region. Because large bodies of water take longer to freeze than smaller aquatic settings, traveling to much larger lakes gives the loon more time in its northern, fresh water environment before heading south. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, August 4, 2011

Adirondack Wildlife Festival August 6th

The Paul Smiths VIC will continue the tradition of hosting the Adirondack Wildlife Festival on August 6 from 10 AM to 8 PM. There will be presentations on all creatures great and small, from Bears to Salamanders, live music with Roy Hurd, storytelling with David Fadden of the 6 Nations Indian Museum, Mark Manske’s bird on hand demonstrations, fun and games, visits to the butterfly house and a special presentation on Loon Conservation in America by Dr. Jim Paruk.

Current schedule of activities includes: » Continue Reading.


Monday, May 2, 2011

When Ice Goes Out The Loons Arrive

It is always difficult to predict when the ice will go out on a given body of water in the Adirondacks, however, it is easy to say when that waterway will be occupied by a loon, as this symbol of the northern wilderness always seems to arrive within hours of the ice disappearing.

The urge to return to its breeding territory is especially strong in male loons. Because of a recent population increase in this species, there can be intense competition for the remote sections of the large lakes and back country ponds that are highly attractive to this bird with the haunting voice. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Proposed Pollution Standards Applauded Locally

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new pollution standards for power plants that are being seen as a major step in reversing the contamination of Adirondack lakes, fish, and wildlife. The rules are likely to be challenged by congressional Republicans, according to a report by John M. Broder and John Collins Rudolf of The New York Times, but nonetheless appear to mark a turning point in the 40-year-long fight to reduce some of America’s worst air pollutants.

In response to a 2008 U.S. Court of Appeals ordered deadline the EPA has proposed the first-ever national standards for mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution from power plants. The new standards would require many power plants to install state-of-the-art pollution control technologies to cut harmful emissions of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and gases that cause acid rain and smog. Currently, only about half of the country’s more than 400 coal-burning plants have some form of pollution control technology installed, and only a third of states have any mercury emission standards. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, July 29, 2010

10th Annual Loon Census A Success

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Adirondack Program, Adirondack residents and visitors, and other partners have successfully conducted the 10th Annual New York Loon Census.

More than 300 lakes and ponds were surveyed by more than 500 volunteers during this year’s census—up from 200 lakes and ponds last year. The data obtained during the census will be added and compared to those collected in years prior to gauge the status of the breeding loon population in and around the Adirondack Park and across New York State. » Continue Reading.


Monday, February 1, 2010

Adirondack History at the NYS Ornithological Association

With a hat tip to the outstanding birding blog The Zen Birdfeeder we point readers to an interesting new online database of 57 years of the New York State Ornithological Association’s (NYSOA) quarterly journal The Kingbird. 229 issues of the journal are currently online, along with 4 ten-year indices; four new issues will be added each year. The journal includes commentary of historic bird lists, natural history field observation reports, an archive of NYSOA development and history, and a lot more.

Here are a few gems I found in the collection – warning – these are all pdfs!

Merriam’s Adirondack List

Stanley Lincoln’s History of the Federation of New York State Bird Clubs

John M.C. Peterson’s Report of the Great 1995 Blowdown from the Bouquet Valley

The Common Loon in New York State


Thursday, August 20, 2009

Study Reveals Mercury Contamination in Fish Nationwide

According to a just-released U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study, scientists detected mercury contamination in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the country. About one fourth of the fish sampled were found to “contain mercury at levels exceeding the criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” according to USGS. More than two-thirds of the fish exceeded the U.S. EPA level of concern for fish-eating mammals.

Mercury contamination of fish, ospreys, loons, and other aquatic-feeding animals continues to be a concern in the Adirondack region where the problem is the most acute of all New York State. New evidence in the Northeast shows mercury contamination in animals that only feed on land, spreading the concern from water based ecosystems to terrestrial ones as well. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, July 9, 2009

Annual Adirondack Loon Census Seeks Volunteers

Loons are the quintessential symbol of wilderness. Just watch any TV show or movie that has a “wilderness” scene and you will hear loon calls in the soundtrack (even if it is in the desert). A stroll through any gift shop in the Adirondacks, Canada or Maine proves that they are probably the number one animal associated with the outdoors (competing only with moose and bears). There is nothing quite like the mournful wail of a loon floating through the night air as you lie in the dark trying to sleep. It is easy to see how people might once have associated them with unhappy or restless spirits. » Continue Reading.


Friday, July 11, 2008

2008 Annual Adirondack Loon Census

The Zen Birdfeeder points us to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Annual Loon Census, set to take place Saturday, July 19th:

The Annual Loon Census provides valuable data for the Loon Program to follow trends in New York’s summer loon population over time. Hundreds of residents and visitors throughout New York assist them each year by looking for loons on their favorite lake or river. » Continue Reading.



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