Hello, all. Wanted to share the exciting news that the loons returned, last week. We already know that at least one is banded, and we should be able to confirm if both banded loons are back very soon.
If the "God's of the
electronic world" are with us, we should have the system up and running, tomorrow. Wing and I are setting out to the site bright and early, and the weather report is great, so keep your fingers crossed.
For everyone starved for interesting loon stories, I'm including the following news from a loon fan in Maine. It proves that although we don't have loon viewing on lakes in winter, watching the coast offers great chances to see loons.
Last week we were watching a Loon which was very close to the breakwater of Spring Point Lighthouse (on the west side) and we also we keeping an eye on a harbor seal in the same area. Well we suddenly heard the Loon call and it was quite odd to hear that call while at the ocean and not at the lake; looking at the loon we saw the seal very close to & facing the Loon - the stand-off lasted less than a minute when the seal dove under and was not seen again that evening! What a cool catch. Another cool catch for us was watching at Portland Head Light one Sunday afternoon about a month ago; we had Loons in the binoculars when suddenly a voice said,"Hey, wanna go up in the Lighthouse?" Say what!! Here's this young coast guard (he said) guy with a buddy and they're at the door of the lighthouse! At first we wondered if they just needed 2 more sets of hands to break the door in but no they had the keys!! And in we went and climbed to the top! It was quite a sight from on high, a bit breezy, but oh my! talk about the right place at the right time....thanks to the loons. This person asked about winter plumage she was seeing. All loons, both adults and juveniles have rather drab gray/brown feathers during the winter. Adults that are at least two years old will develop the black & white summer plumage in the spring. Before that age, they have the winter plumage year-round. Although we don't know a lot about the movement of all loons, years of observation have shown that some remain on the ocean, even during the summer, while others (even some young loons without the black & white plumage) are seen on lakes.Happy spring, 2008, all! I'm looking forward to blogging with all of you, again, this season. I'll do my best to blog at least once a week, and more frequently, when the loons nest. Notice I said "when." I'm spreading good loon nesting karma.
Lee
