Pawtuckaway Lake Association

Seeing and hearing loons is a wonderful part of living or camping on Pawtuckaway Lake. Beginning with this post, we hope to share some information about the loons on our lake. Please feel free to send along your observations and photos too.

NESTS:  In 2010, two pairs of loons nested on Pawtuckaway: one at the northern end near the "floating islands" in the Fundy, and one on a small island near Rabbit Island in the southeastern part of the lake. The southern nest is in a new location that seems to be ideal. It's near a good fishing spot and is visually concealed by shrubs and grasses. It's also well protected from waves, boaters, harsh weather, eagles, and other threats. The two eggs were laid around the 4th of July so they should be hatching very soon. As of Thursday, July 29 at 10:30 AM, the nest was still active. We're optimistic that we'll have a successful hatch, despite the fact that this pair nested quite late. If you spot the "loon nesting" sign on the water, it's OK to float by in a kayak, but please keep your distance. The best time to see the nest is in the morning, when the eastern light hits it and makes the loon on the nest very visible. Thanks to Don Rossi for sign maintenance and placement. FRIDAY, JULY 30th UPDATE: Ed and I woke at 5:45 to hear a chorus of different loon calls. After listening in bed for a moment, I ran downstairs and saw both adults swimming together in the morning sun.  With the binoculars I could see a tiny chick bobbing in the water behind them, not on the back of an adult. They swam around calling for a few minutes and then all three went quietly back to the nest through the grasses (the chick may have climbed onto the mother's back by that time). One loon came out a few minutes later, called a few times, and stayed close to the island. The second egg will probably hatch in a couple of days.

The northern nest was located on a small grassy island out in the open, which gave many boaters a chance to see the loons taking turns on the nest. Unfortunately, that nest was not successful. The eggs were still being incubated as of July 5 and were due to hatch any day after that. No sightings of chicks were ever reported, however. The nest did contain shells, so it's unclear whether the chicks hatched and were quickly taken by an eagle, snapping turtle, or some other predator or whether something else happened to them. If you have any information about this nest, please contact me at lizknh at comcast dot net so I can write it up and pass the information along to the Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) in Moultonborough.

2010 LOON CENSUS: Every year the LPC asks volunteers from around New Hampshire to count the number of loons they spot between 8:00 and 9:00 AM on the same day. This year it was Saturday, July 17. Seven volunteers participated on Pawtuckaway: Therese Thompson, Sharon Symons, Will Urban, Peggy Tucker, Dan Hajjar, Ed Kotowski, and me.  We observed a total of four loons on the lake during the census (three in the south and one in the north) plus another adult loon near Log Cabin Island at 9:15. Thanks to everyone for doing a great job on the census.

MORE INFORMATION: If anyone would like to learn more about loons and the efforts of the LPC to help protect them in New Hampshire, please go to www.loon.org. Everyone who cares about loons is encouraged to join this organization. Senior Biologist John Cooley amd Seacoast Coordinator Sam Merker have been very helpful to the PLIA,  providing signs, professional advice, and occasional tagging of loons. In addition, with help from Fish and Game, Sam recently rescued a Pawtuckaway loon with a large fishing lure in its breast. He brought the bird to Arbor Vet to have the lure surgically removed and then released the loon at Wheelwright Pond in Lee so it could recover before flying back to Pawtuckaway.