First Baby Loon of the Season
As of this writing in the second week of June, we are right in the middle of our loon breeding season. Long Pond should be able to lay claim to this year’s first chick within the next day or two. Yay!! We actually had two nests on Long Pond that nested early, on or about May 12. That’s great news for two reasons. One, the chicks are guaranteed to be large and mature enough to make the great fly-off around October. Two, if the nest does fail, there may be still time for a second nesting.
So, along with this great news, we also had our first abandoned eggs in Long Pond’s Tracy Cove. Our pair laid two eggs but abandoned both just two weeks later. Why? The nest was washed out due to residential boat traffic exceeding the 200′ no-wake zone. In this case, the cove itself is only maybe 200′ wide, meaning the entire cove and its “entrance” is “strictly headway speed only!” And is not acceptable to come screaming in and then at the no-wake zone, immediately slow down leaving a tsunami in your wake! This nest, which has since been refurbished, will be abandoned as well if this unlawful activity continues.
These eggs, like all abandoned eggs, will end up going down to Biodiversity Research Institute in Portland for heavy metals, embryonic development, etc. testing this fall. Until then, they go into Sue’s freezer!
Please keep your eyes open for chicks during the final three weeks of June and the first week in July as this is prime time for chicks to first see the first light of day! Last summer, Great and Long Ponds each produced eight chicks, but of course only one chick from Long Pond made it to the great fly-off. The rest all succumbed to a myriad of reasons from siblicide, territorial disputes, snapping turtles, eagles, etc.
Our two Colby interns, Alie and Katie, along with our other valued volunteers visit all twenty-six or so loon territories on Great and Long Ponds every two or three days, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for a successful chick productivity year.
If you have a particular questions regarding our Belgrade loon population, please email your inquiry to , and we will try to answer your question either in this column or via email. Have a great summer enjoying the “call of the loon!” We are so fortunate to summer here in the Belgrades!
Dick Greenan is chairman of the Belgrade Lakes Association’s Loon Preservation Project.
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