The Unfolding Saga of our Sunset Lake Loon
By
Linda Johnson
In the spring of 2005 two of our loons made a nest on a very small rock pile in the middle of Sunset Lake. The female
loon laid one egg and both parents took turns sitting on the nest keeping the egg warm and safe. We all anxiously waited for
the arrival of a new chick. We also watched with dismay as many curious boaters ventured too close to the nest. We called
John Cooley, a biologist who works for the Moultonborough Loon Center. He came down to Sunset Lake with his canoe and a very
long piece of rope. He placed the rope with floats around the nesting area. He
added signs around the perimeter warning people to stay clear of our nesting loons.
One fine summer day a baby loon was spotted swimming with his parents. The news spread around the lake in a flash.
We were all thrilled.
The baby loon followed his parents around the lake or hitched a ride on one of their backs. He grew quickly and he
learned to catch his own fish. When early fall arrived one of his parents followed that age-old instinct to fly to the ocean
to spend the winter. In late fall the other parent left as well. Now the young loon had to take care of himself, He needed
to learn how to fly so he could head for the coast.
On Friday Dec. 9th we were expecting our first big snow storm of the year. We woke up to flurries and we
noticed for the first time that there was a skim of ice covering the lake. We also noticed about 400 feet from shore was a
small open area. Who was out there swimming around in a 10 by 15 foot ice-free space? You guessed it, our beautiful, young
loon.
Now we know that loons need several hundred feet of open water to take flight. Our loon was in deep trouble. The lake
was frozen. We watched as the snow kept falling and the temperature kept dropping. We feared that our loon was a goner.
We remembered our friend John Cooley who helped us last spring. We gave him a call. His news was not good. The ice
was much too thin for a human to go out on safely. Any one trying to get
out there would cause the loon to dive down deep and perhaps get disoriented and lost under the ice. We continued watching
him swim around, as his pool got smaller and smaller. He would crawl out on the ice and vigorously scratch his feet. It seemed
he was trying to break the ice on the edges of his pool. He'd swim for a while, stick his head in the water to look for fish
and jump onto the ice and scratch some more. His pool was now only a few feet in diameter.
We watched for four cold days. John Cooley called many people trying to find an answer to this dilemma. He called a
woman who lives in Maine. She has experience rehabilitating loons. She suggested
that we try to lure him to the shoreline and throw a net over him. We could do this by hiding behind a tree and making loon
calls. She thought that the loon would be anxious to get together with other loons. She promised to care for the loon if we
caught him. Well, its a good thing that there are very few people around the lake this time of year. Ray and I took turns
hiding behind trees and making funny loon noises. The loon looked at us for a second, then dove under the water and went on
with his business. Now feeling pretty disheartened we felt pretty foolish as
well.
On Tuesday Dec. 13 John Cooley arrived. He had a tape with loon calls on it, a tape player, a large net and a jon boat.
He played the tape at the waters edge. The loon listened for about a half
hour. Then much to our joy he leaped out of his tiny hole and landed on the ice. He
flapped his wings wildly and moved about 8 feet across the ice. He
Rested. He flapped his wings again and
moved a bit further. He rested. The tape kept on playing. After about 20 minutes he was 200 feet from the hole. He was not
heading in our direction, but he was well away from a place to escape. John put on his life vest, tied a long rope around
his waist, grabbed the net, and put a big cardboard box into his boat. He started pushing that jon boat out onto the 2 to
3 inch thick ice, heading for the loon. He stopped every so often to chop a hole in the ice (A safety test) The loon just
sat on the ice and watched. John got close and made a few soft loon noises. He then slipped the net over the loon and he was
CAPTURED. As darkness set in, John Cooley was driving out of our yard with the boxed loon sitting beside him on the front
seat of his truck. The Loon was heading for Maine to get a little rehab. With luck our loon will soon get a trip to the coast
for release into the ocean. And the cycle goes on.
We think John Cooley is very dedicated to loon preservation and we greatly appreciate his efforts.
and thank you Linda for your
efforts!
