A Remarkable Coincidence
You may know that the Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) attaches leg tags of various colors and patterns to loons when the opportunity presents itself. These are not electronic devices, so researchers can’t track the loons. The only way the LPC knows their location is if someone sees a tagged bird, takes a photo and sends it to the LPC. As the tags are attached to their legs, which are usually submerged, seeing them isn’t easy and getting a good photo is even harder.
On August 24, my surprisingly tolerant wife, Amanda, and I were out on a “Loon Safari” – she has the binoculars and looks around and I drink beer and eat Cheetos. Amanda spotted this loon and noticed the tags. It took a long time to coax the loon into a fitting pose. Then this happened. The picture was good enough to send to John Cooley, Head Biologist of the LPC.
John came back to me: “Our database manager reports that this is a female loon (Band # 0689-09454). She was born on July 3, 2020, on Kezar Lake, Maine and banded on August 19th of that year.” I didn’t know where Kezar Lake was, but so what. John was happy to get a good sighting, and we were happy to help.
John told me that a 4-year-old loon is likely back on a lake for the first time since she migrated to the ocean from Kezar Lake before “ice-in” of the year she was born. The loon then spent the entire first three years of her life someplace in the Atlantic, most likely within a couple hundred miles of us. This spring, for the first time, she grew the classic black and white mating plumage, then returned to fresh water ready for romance. She is not a member of one of our nesting pairs, but she is sizing up prospects. We’ll have to wait and see if this bird settles down with us or finds love elsewhere.
I thought that was the end of the story. Then a couple of days later, I received an email from Mr. Heinrich Wurm informing me that he was an LPC volunteer on Kezar Lake. He wrote: “I am one of several Kezar Lake Watershed Association’s loon volunteers and very excited to learn that one of our chicks, turned up on Lovell Lake in New Hampshire, 42 miles southeast from here – as the loon flies. What a remarkable coincidence this is because, if you don’t know, Kezar Lake is in the town of Lovell, Maine.” So, here we have a loon born in Lovell, Maine searching for bliss on Lovell Lake, NH – a remarkable coincidence indeed. What a good guy Heinrich was to send the email.
Some of you starry-eyed readers will be inclined to wonder if the loon knowingly chose Lovell Lake because she was born in Lovell, ME, I have to tell you, I wouldn’t read too much into this. Loons don’t speak English that well and can barely read at all. She may, however, have known about the Pub and could see from the air that it was adjacent to Lovell Lake, and made the connection that way. But, honestly, it’s a stretch. Most likely, she visited several lakes and could see that the Lovell Lake Association members are the hottest looking people in New England, and that’s why.
Bob Spellman
