Loon Spring Fever

This past Friday, on March 27, a Common Loon crash-landed at the Berlin Airport (I’m serious – no fooling today). Owen Montgomery, who works next door at the U.S. Department of Agriculture office, picked up the bird and found that it had few scratches.  It seemed healthy otherwise.

John Buck of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department transported the loon to Sara Eisenhower at VINS Wildlife Services for examination. The loon was healthy minus making the mistake that the Berlin Airport does not have a runway for seaplanes (airports in Alaska have canals next to their terrestrial runways). VINS released the bird on the Connecticut River.

This loon was likely already performing reconnaissance flights to return to its territory.  Males tend to return first, thus maybe this was the male from Berlin Pond. It may have been tired from the flight, possibly from the New England coast. Loons will fly hundreds of miles in a single migratory flight. It saw the black of the runway, and, like the rest of us suffering from spring fever, perhaps had notions of water, sun, and fish.

Eric Hanson

Since 1998, Eric Hanson has been the biologist for the Vermont Loon Conservation Project, a joint program of VCE and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. He has conducted research on the Common Loon since 1992. He takes care of cross country ski trails during the winter months at his home in Craftsbury.