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                                                        e-Newsletter Vol. 44
In This Issue
Event Spotlight: Holiday Open House
Loons Changing Colors

Upcoming Events

The Little Details



Photos courtesy of 
Gary Janco, 2014-2015 Northcountry field biologist.
Take a Chance
for Loons!
Take a chance to win one of 4 great prizes in our Annual Benefit Raffle.

Tickets can be purchased at The Loon Center or by calling 603-476-5666.

Drawing will be held at our Holiday Open House.  You don't have to be present to win.


Celebrating 40 Years of Loon Preservation 
in NH!
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Contact LPC
P.O. Box 604
Lee's Mill Road
Moultonborough, NH 03254
 

Thankfully the past few weeks have been pretty quiet in terms of loon rescue calls.  We are putting the final touches on the Fall newsletter and thinking about winterizing the boats and packing away other field supplies for the winter season.

As the leaves change colors in the fall, so do the adult loons. The first sign of molt is usually by the base of the bill, followed by the feathers on their head and then neck and back.  They do not molt their flight feathers until late winter when they are on the ocean.  The adults become harder to distinguish from the juveniles as they change from the striking black-and-white plumage to a less spectacular (to some) gray for the winter, but their eyes remain red. Juveniles have a more scalloped edge on their feathers than adult loons too.  See below for a series of pictures taken this fall on Pleasant Lake in New London, NH.  Molt timing varies from one adult to another, but usually adults without chicks start to molt earlier than adults with chicks.  Quite fascinating!

In the last e-newsletter, I reported that 2015 was another good year for NH loons.  Our neighbors in Vermont also had a good season this year.  Here's a brief summary from Eric Hanson, Vermont Loon Conservation Project Coordinator:

"Vermont's Common Loons established another 
modern-day nesting record in 2015. Eighty-seven 
pairs attempted to nest statewide, with 65 pairs successfully hatching chicks and 69 chicks surviving through August. This represents a 130% increase in Vermont's breeding loon population over 15 years, 
as 38 pairs attempted nesting in 2001. More than 280 volunteers helped monitor and protect Vermont's 
loons this summer, with significant assistance from Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department game wardens."
 
Don't forget our annual Holiday Open House is on Saturday, November 28 from 10 am - 2 pm.  It's a great event for the whole family and a wonderful time to visit The Loon Center. We recently switched to our winter schedule, so we are now open to the public Thursday - Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm until mid-May.  Did you know that people come from around the world to visit us?  So far this year, we've had more than 6,000 visitors from 40 states and 11 countries!  That's pretty exciting for a small non-profit organization in Moultonborough, NH!

I was trying to find a Halloween-style loon to sign my email, but I did not have much luck.  If you happen to carve a loon on your pumpkin, send it along or post it on LPC's Facebook page.  We'd love to see it!

Until next time,    


 
Susie Burbidge
Outreach/Volunteer Coordinator
HOH2015

Come celebrate the holiday season 
at 
LPC's Annual Holiday Open House!

Saturday, November 28th
10 am - 2 pm

Join us for a day of family fun and 
delicious local food.

Activities include: 

- Face painting by Stacey

- Balloons by Mr. Phil

- Children's crafts

- Squam Lake Science Center Discovery Table

- Horse-drawn wagon rides

Santa  

Santa Arrives at Noon!

 

Admission is free!

 

For more information, please call 603-476-5666.  For directions to The Loon Center, click here.

 

FallMoltThey are a Changin'!

This first photo in this series was taken on September 7, 2015.  This adult does not really show any signs of molt yet.

About three weeks later you can see the whitish feathers coming in by the base of the bill and moving towards the neck.

Two weeks later on October 11....


And the one below taken on October 19.  It's becoming harder and harder to tell them apart (the adult is on the left).

All photos courtesy of Kittie Wilson
The Loon Preservation Committee is dedicated to restoring and maintaining a healthy population of loons throughout New Hampshire; monitoring the health and productivity of loon populations as sentinels of environmental quality; and promoting a greater understanding of loons and the natural world.
 
Sincerely,
 
Susie Burbidge
Loon Preservation Committee