Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary
The Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary is dedicated to conservation, research, and education in the Somes Pond-Long Pond watershed and beyond
The group of six adult loons swimming together in the Southern Neck Cove of Long Pond yesterday morning. You can here a few "hoots" from them as they paddle along. The loon in front is considerably smaller and it's plumage is not in pristine breeding season condition. They all bob up and down a bit with each stroke of their powerful legs.Background sound by a blue jay and common yellow-throat warbler.
We had a perfect morning yesterday for the annual Maine Audubon loon count where volunteers around the state head out to lakes and ponds to get a snapshot sample of our loon population. The Sanctuary coordinates the count on MDI lakes and yesterday volunteer Alister and I checked on the west side of Long Pond, our largest lake (900 acres).During our narrow count window from 7:00-7:30 we saw a group of four in sometimes confrontation mode, sometimes cruising together; and a solo bird fishing. Later those 5 had come together and an additional loon had joined. We know that no eggs have hatched on Long Pond again this season and, as expected, we saw no chicks. The time window for observations is narrow to minimize the likelihood of double counting birds moving from one one area or pond to another and counted by observers in both locations.The calm of the morning changed fairly quickly to south wind and whitecaps, but early on the sky and water were particularly beautiful. We'll know the results of all MDI loon observers shortly.
Here is another short clip of the Somes Pond female with her chick from yesterday taken right after the prior video. You can see her left leg ID bands (yellow over blue with a white stripe) easily through the water with each leg stroke. Colors/patterns of bands are best seen with a leg out of the water while preening the belly or stretching a leg out behind them in the air. Usually there are 2 bands placed on each leg. Watching her leg move shows how far back on the body loon's legs are. This is a specialization for chasing and catching fish underwater – being able to swim fast and change direction quickly. The rearward leg placement comes with tradeoffs of not being able to walk on land, with their center of mass forward (they can push themselves along on their chests with their legs and feet or pull with their wings but this does damage after a while depending on the substrate), and having to nest as close as possible to the freshwater shoreline as possible. Both males and females incubate the typical one or more likely two eggs and if disturbed, they want to be able to jump off the nest and swim away underwater. Nesting along the immediate shoreline presents numerous hazards including nest flooding by big rains or eggs getting knocked out of the nest by large boat wakes; high visibility by humans and subsequent close approaches by water and land causing potential disturbance; easy access, harassment, and egg predation by various predators including mink, otters, eagles, raccoons; and being left high and dry by decreasing water levels during drought periods/dam releases on reservoirs. The SP female was banded as an adult on July 2nd, 2014. She was the resident female territory holder then, and has been since – 13 years now that we know of. To be dominant enough to get a territory a loon likely has to be about 6 or 7 years old, so she is likely at least 19 years old. Impressive animals!
