22 loons stranded at Lake Winnipesaukee; most die

[Brandon-K]

22 loons stranded at Lake Winnipesaukee; most die

By Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. - Twenty-two loons were found stranded on ice on Lake Winnipesaukee over the weekend and most of them died, either scavenged by predators or freezing on the ice, biologists said.

Loons are listed as a threatened species in New Hampshire. The population in New Hampshire, which hovers around 500, has struggled for several years, as reproduction rates have fallen on some lakes.

Five of the discovered birds survived, and were taken to the Seacoast for release in the open ocean, where they normally spend the winter.

Loons need open water to survive and normally leave the inland lakes before they freeze over. New Hampshire's loons winter along the coast from Maine to Rhode Island.

Harry Vogel, executive director of the Loon Preservation Committee, said every year, one or two juveniles are found frozen on Lake Winnipesaukee, unable to make the migration because they aren't strong enough or lack the instinct to move. But all of the loons found last weekend were adults and would have migrated in past years, he said.

"They should have known better," Vogel said.

He said the fact that the loons were traveling in a large group was also unusual. The territorial birds nest in pairs. Vogel said researchers aren't sure if they spend winter alone or stick with their mate. But they don't migrate in flocks.

Vogel thinks the birds could have mistook the black ice where they were found for open water and tried to land there.

He thought perhaps the late and brief ice-in on Lake Winnipesaukee last year followed by the warm start to this winter had disrupted the loons' migratory instincts.

"I'm a little bit worried that loons are finding it hard to cope with all of these changes, and this year 20-something of them just got caught," he said.

With help from volunteers and another biologist, Vogel retrieved the carcasses.

"We make such an effort in the summertime to make sure that their nesting is successful and educating people about not running over them with their boats and not disturbing their nests," said Jane Rice of Moultonborough, who helped with the recovery. "It's really a big blow to lose that many in one incident."

Loons don't reproduce until about age 7, and then only at the average rate of one chick per pair every two years. Adult survival rates are critical to the health of the species, Vogel said. The death of 17 adults is "a huge loss" to the population, he said.

An autopsy, will be conducted on the loons' bodies at Tufts University. Vogel said they'll be looking to see if a contaminant, pathogen or parasite may have disoriented the birds.

In the meantime, Vogel asked that snowmobilers and others on the lake watch for more stranded birds.

Information from: Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com