7830-R2_LSLA_2021_WinetrNewsletter_Web

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2021 Little

Elsa: A one day old tiny ball of fluff Day sitting with mom on nest - Photo by Anna Seekins

As I contemplated the past loon season and what to write in my fall report, I was initially quite discouraged at the season’s loon productivity statistics. Then looking closely at the past six years of data tracking I realized that despite the years disappointments, there were indeed positive moments as well. The very most exciting highlight of the year was the successful nesting, hatching, and fledging of our Brigg Island Cove pair. We’ve named this chick Elsa after the storm that immediately preceded her birth. Today Elsa is 15 weeks old, and our very dedicated lower lake Loon Rangers continue to memorialize her progress in pictures, including a video of flight practice. How very exciting it is to be able to watch the first-year chick running across the water, wings flapping wildly, in anticipation of lift off. This activity is part exercise to strengthen their wings for fall migration. What is truly amazing about this family is that “Mom”

is one of the first loons banded on Little Sebago in 1997 – 24 years ago. Shewas with chick then, making her around 30 years old today, and still successfully reproducing. And that’s not all! This family is the very first Little Sebago loon family to successfully use a man-made nesting raft. The nesting raft was first placed in Briggs Island Cove 5 years ago after the territorial pair had two attempts on the mainland fail. It was believed that a mammal destroyed both nests of eggs, thus the need to provide a platform offshore to replace the mainland site. This success story greatly outweighs our disappointment in seeing 6 of this year’s other nests, and 11 eggs, lost to abandonment or washout. It was an unusual year. Several of our territorial pairs did successfully mate and lay eggs only to abandon the eggs shortly thereafter. We’ve not experienced this behavior often, and to have several nests lost to abandonment in one season was certainly distressing

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