It's hard to believe, but LPC's 2019 field season has drawn to a close. After 12 weeks of intensive work monitoring New Hampshire's loons, floating rafts and signs, banding, and responding to calls about loons in distress, our field biologists completed their data entry last Friday. Many thanks to them and to the roughly 1,000 volunteers who helped us over the course of the summer
—your hard work helped us survey hundreds of lakes and protect hundreds of nesting pairs with ropes, signs, or other management strategies. We are currently in the process of compiling and checking all of our data from the season, and we hope to have population, productivity, and management numbers by next week. If you would like to hear how New Hampshire's loon population did this summer, please consider attending one of our end of season Volunteer Appreciation Potlucks! At each potluck, LPC Senior Biologist/Executive Director Harry Vogel will give his annual State of the Loon Presentation, which summarizes the size and productivity of New Hampshire's loon population and provides an overview of the work conducted by LPC this summer. For a list of potluck dates and locations, please click
HERE.
Please note that we are space limited at some of these potlucks. In order to ensure your space, please RSVP to me at volunteers@loon.org and let us know what you can bring!
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Join us at our Volunteer Appreciation Potlucks to hear about how this loon family and others around the state fared this year! Photo courtesy of Sam Moore.
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In July, LPC volunteers and staff members participated in our
Annual Loon Census
. The Loon Census is a yearly event that helps us to get a 'snapshot' of our loon population. On census day, volunteers simultaneously survey as many loon territories as possible. This not only helps us to accurately count loons, but also provides a mid-season check on loon nests and chicks and helps to alert us to the presence of loons or nests that we might not have been previously aware of. I am glad to be able to share the results of the Loon Census with you now!
On the census day, we had:
- 520 census participants, who monitored a combined total of 104 lakes and ponds throughout the state
- 430 adult loons
- 79 loon chicks
- 6 immature loons
I want to extend a sincere thank you to all who participated in the Loon Census this year for helping to bolster our monitoring efforts!
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Please note that while we had census participants on many of the lakes that LPC routinely monitors, the census did not cover all of the lakes in our state that have loons on them. Because of this, the numbers provided here underrepresent the the true size of our loon population. The census is an invaluable part of LPC's season-long monitoring, and we look forward to sharing our finalized population and productivity numbers with you soon!
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These loons were observed feeding their chicks during the 2019 Annual Loon Census. Photo courtesy of Mike Krebs.
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Thanks again to everyone who worked so hard to make our loon field season a success this year! Below, please enjoy some photos showing a few highlights from this summer!
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LPC Senior Biologist John Cooley leads a group of paddlers as part of a nature talk series on Wakondah Pond. Photo courtesy of Eunice Jackson.
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Sunapee Region Biologist Brian Long inspects a nest site after the hatch of a chick. Photo courtesy of Kari Asmus.
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North Country Biologist Sam Moore surveys Cherry Pond. Can you spot the loons? Photo courtesy of Dave Govatski.
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One of this year's successful rescues-this loon crash landed in the Seacoast Region after mistaking a stretch of highway for a river. With help from our colleagues at NH Fish and Game, we were able to collect it, bring it to the vet for a clean bill of health, and release it onto a pond all within a matter of a few hours. Photo courtesy of Owen Brennick.
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The loon wing rowed away upon release, an indicator of vigor and good health!
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All the best,
Caroline
Caroline Hughes
Volunteer/Outreach Coordinator
Loon Preservation Committee
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Upcoming Events
LPC's Annual Benefit Raffle is up and running! To view our prizes, please click
HERE. To purchase raffle tickets, give us a call at (603)476-5666.
LPC's Annual Meeting will be held on
Thursday, August 22nd. Please join us for a potluck dinner at
6 PM. Following the potluck will be Harry Vogel's
State of the Loon presentation, and a
loon presentation by nature photographer John Rockwood. If planning on attending the potluck, please RSVP to volunteers@loon.org.
Join us for our annual
Volunteer Appreciation Potlucks! Note that some of these events are space limited, so please RSVP by sending an email to volunteers@loon.org to claim your spot!
Join us for our
Summer Nature Talk Series
, every
Thursday
from July 11th-August 22nd at
7 PM
. For a list of topics, please click
HERE
.
The
Carl Johnson Memorial Golf Tournamen
t will be held on
Monday, August 19th
. Pre-registration is required for this event
— please contact LPC at
(603)476-5666
or by email at
info@loon.org
for more information.
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Loon Preservation Committee | 603-476-LOON (5666) | www.loon.org
Loon Center Hours: Open Sunday-Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm
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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.
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