New way to take part in Maine Audubon’s Annual Loon Count

Mainers might not be thinking about summer just yet, but Common Loons will start to appear on lakes and ponds shortly after the ice melts so Maine Audubon is already getting set for its 42nd Annual Loon Count. The organization has an exciting addition to the count this year and is looking for volunteers.

Come spring, Common Loons will start reclaiming their territories and engaging in courtship rituals with prospective breeding partners, and filling the air with their distinctive and beloved calls. And once the breeding season is underway, thousands of volunteers will be taking to the water on July 19 all across the state to count all the adult loons and chicks that they see in a designated half hour period. This long-running dataset has tracked the changes and trends in the population for more than four decades. The information allows Maine Audubon to assess the impacts of conservation efforts over time, and to flag any significant changes in the population, to aid better management in the future.

Last year Maine Audubon had the greatest amount of participation ever in the annual count: 1624 volunteers surveyed loons on 407 lakes. Thanks to this tremendous effort by community scientists the organization was able to estimate a Common Loon population of 3146 adults, south of the 45th parallel. Unfortunately, there are not enough lakes surveyed north of this line to estimate the population for the entire state.

In an effort to expand the reach, involve more people in the count, and gain a better understanding of where loons are and what they’re doing in the northern part of the state, Maine Audubon is introducing Extended Duration Surveys this summer. This is a pilot program for select remote and unsurveyed lakes. Community scientists who volunteer to survey these lakes will have seven days (July 19-26) to scout, access, and conduct a one-hour survey of their assigned lake. Many of these lakes lack boat launches or easy cartop access, and some range far from the beaten path.

These lakes will take a greater time and travel commitment than the standard loon count survey. You may have to hike in and survey from shore, or carry a kayak or canoe in, and in some cases it may be easiest to turn a survey into a camping trip. Many Maine lakes and ponds are only accessible through private land so you may be asked to help in securing landowner permission to conduct a survey.

If traveling and hiking into remote lakes and ponds to find unrecorded loons sounds like something you might be interested in, please contact Maine Audubon Community Science Manager Phil Keefe at pkeefe@maineaudubon.org and he can help you find a lake to survey that is of interest. 

For more about the Annual Loon Count, visit maineaudubon.org/looncount

Since 1843, Maine Audubon has worked to conserve Maine wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people in education, conservation, and action. The oldest and largest Maine-based conservation organization, Maine Audubon has eight public centers and sanctuaries across the state, seven chapters, and 30,000 members, volunteers, and supporters, and connects with more than 250,000 people annually.