On July 18th 2020, the 37th Maine Audubon Loon Count took place on Parker Pond and Pleasant Lake. This was the first, and we hope only, loon count to take place during a Pandemic.
The count takes place on the third Saturday of July every year from 7:00 to 7:30 all over southern Maine. This year many lakes including ours were rather fogged in. We were lucky in that the the bank of clouds cleared out and we were able to complete our surveys. Susan Kaagan, Joyce Burd and Deborah Shapiro counted three adult loons on Parker Pond
On Pleasant Lake Steve Turner, Cindy Begin and Marygrace and Peter Barber divided the lake in two and counted 10 adults and two chicks. It was a very exciting morning for our counters.
A big change in 2020 was the use of an online portal for the input of data. The ability to send in data forms and maps by mail still remained. Apparently all went pretty well. All over Maine kids at summer camps, people in motor boats, kayaks and canoes went out looking for loons. When the data was tabulated Maine Audubon estimated a population of 2,974 adult Common loons and 414 chicks for the area of Maine south of the 45th parallel. The information gathered helps track loon population trends over time. See https://maineaudubon.org/news/volunteers-get-creative-during-2020-annual-loon-count/