Vermont Loon Update 17 July 2014

Loonwatch day: The annual statewide loonwatch survey takes place this Saturday, July 19.   Most of the high priority lakes are assigned but if anyone with a motorboat has any last minute desire to boat on Comerford Res., Moore Res., or Lake Bomoseen, please contact Eric Hanson at 802-586-8064 by Friday evening. We hope to survey about 150 lakes Saturday a.m. to obtain an estimate of the Vermont adult loon population as well as provide a check on nesting lakes and other lakes that are not surveyed very often.

Nesting Loons: The breeding season has gone well with 81 confirmed nesting attempts, a new record (80 nest attempts last year). Sixty-seven chicks are still with us. Four new nesting pairs have been discovered, including a new 4^th pair on Green River Res, a failed nest up on Fairfield Pond in NW Vermont, and a second pair in the town of Marlboro on South Pond. The nest failure rate might be a bit higher this year as currently 18 nests have failed and we still have 16 pairs incubating as of the last surveys conducted. Many pairs did nest late this year in part to high levels of intruder loon activity. Two adult loons were likely killed by other adult loons in territorial battles on Sunset L. (Marlboro) and Bean P. (Barton).

New Nest Warning Signs: We hope some of you have seen the first round of new loon nest warning signs. We will continue to fundraise to replace more of the old signs next year. We encourage all lake associations to help replace the signs on their lakes through the online donation site http://www.crowdrise.com/vtecostudies. Find the loon sign project and continue to scroll down to find the lake you’d like to support.

Volunteers and Donors

New and Old Loon Nest Warning Signs

Thank you once again for making this project successful in so many ways. Your contributions in time and support are essential to maintaining our management and outreach efforts. Our success is reflected in the slight change in our name to the Vermont Loon Conservation Project (VLCP).

Eric Hanson