August 9, 2020: Mid Summer Loon Update

Harold and Betty are now over a month old, time for their five-week check up.

Harold and Betty, age five weeks.    D. Crowley photo.

There's been a lot of loon activity on Lake Wicwas the past couple of weeks, including just yesterday when a total of 12 loons were observed, but fortunately it doesn’t seem to be affecting our little chicks, who aren’t actually all that little any more. 

A good comparison of the chick's size relative to an adult.  D. Crowley photo.

One can understand how they're growing so quickly when you see the size of the fish their parents are feeding them.

That's a big fish for a little bird.  D. Crowley photo.

It's hard to believe, but the little chick got that fish down its throat!  Deb Crowley sent me these great pictures she took this week – thank you for sharing them!  (And there are still more to come.)

The loon family is keeping to the south end of the lake and the parent on guard duty seems to be pretty successful at keeping all the other loons north of Loon Point.  One afternoon there were four loons in Marion Cove clearly having a dispute.  They spent hours in the same area, circling each other, diving, watching one another down under the water, even wing-rowing and yodeling as they chased each other around the cove.  

Wing-rowing across the cove.

This has gone on many times in the last two or three weeks.  I came up with my own speculative story:   the cove has become the South China Sea of Lake Wicwas.  The rogue loon we call Solo has claimed ownership of the cove but the pair that has lived on the lake for many years doesn’t accept this, and continues to sail through the cove, asserting their long-term rights to the water.  This year it has been particularly tense, and for the first time there have been four loons rather than three.  Could it be that after five years Solo has found a mate?  Or is it a new pair that would like to make its home here?  Who could blame it – it’s a beautiful place to live.

A calm August day in New Hampshire

One afternoon as this on-going skirmish was taking place, one of the loons came up with a huge sunfish and spent several minutes shaking, dropping, catching it again, and just tossing it around, all trying to wear it out before it would swallow it.  It knows better than to put a madly flapping fish with spiked fins into its gullet!  Several other people told me they observed the same thing, but only Deb caught it on silicon. (Remember when we said "film"?)

Photos by D. Crowley

I have not heard any reports of eagles harassing the loon chicks even though they are on the lake.  One afternoon Neil Crimins was out fishing and saw a bald eagle swoop up from the lake after catching its supper – a five or six inch long fish - and fly off into a tree on the shore close to his boat.  He watched for over 15 minutes, but the eagle was not inclined to start its meal while it was being watched. 

Photo by N. Crimins

Eventually Neil went on his way, leaving the eagle to enjoy its dinner.

Thanks to all the great nature-watchers on the lake I had an easy job this week with the news and the pictures.  I will share one picture I took recently of the largest loon I have ever seen on Lake Wicwas.  It was drifting quietly out by Sheep Island, clearly separated from its family.  I was happy to see later that morning that it had found its way back home.

A wayward loon on Lake Wicwas