Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 372
It is getting dry for July and the passing storms that came through here only dropped a half inch of rain at Eight Acre Wood once on Thursday afternoon and Saturday night. My pond is down six inches, but it was that way at the end of May last year. That didn’t last long as it rained weekly all summer and the overflow was going over the rest of the year. There have been a few forest fires in the area, mostly started from debris burning the cause. I did see a couple of fireplaces left burning back in the Plains last Sunday and of course I had to stop and put them out as old habits never die.
This week has been a busy one with Loon banding three nights and other local events taking place during the day, I hardly had time to get the mail which was mostly campaigns asking for funding. Mostly they were still asking Karen, so they didn’t get much there. As for the loon banding, we made stops at six local lakes in three nights and eight to five jobs, sometimes six. Wednesday night we started off at First Lake where there are three pairs of nesting Loons and two pairs had hatched chicks, the other is still sitting. We caught the female of the first pair and processed it out in the boat. Never did see the male and chick after that so we moved to the second pair in Cohen’s Bay where we caught the pair and one chick. While processing them the wind came up and blew us into the island going into Second Lake. That also moved out the smoke that had hung over the lake, and all the stars came out. The catch team moved over into Second Lake looking for the pair with two chicks but in over an hour of searching they never found them. I think they may have moved through the channel into Third Lake as the pair there lost their nest and there would be no fighting. With the cloudless sky there were many falling stars in the northern sky over Rondaxe Mountain Fire tower. The eastern sky was getting light, and they could see us, so we quit at daylight. The second night, Thursday, we were at Eight Lake for visitor night, a lake we never sampled. I take that back as we caught a nearly grown chick there last September that had fishing line on it and banded that bird and took blood samples. This night we caught both adults and two chicks just a couple of days old. Blood, feathers and leg and bill measurements taken on the adult birds were banded and released with their chicks on territory, who quickly got back together in the dark. From there we traveled to the North Bay of Big Moose where there was a pair with one chick. They were calling to us as we put the boat in but out in the main lake. We checked the entire North Bay and found no Loons. We went out into the main lake through the shallow channel and found a bird right away, but I think it was trying to lead us away from the other Loon who had the chick. We got close to her several times but never put the net into the water. She finally evaded us in the fog and wouldn’t talk to us. We tried to find the other loon and chick but never did. We quit as the sun was rising and called it a night. The third night we went to Moss Lake where there is a pair with two chicks. We had several campers and some outside visitors came to watch us band. The catch team in a canoe was soon on the family as they turned on their lights but missed the banded male and did catch the unbanded female. We processed that bird with the crowd watching and taking pictures. The team tried for the male again, but you don’t catch them all and quit. We traveled to Rondaxe Lake where it was now very foggy. We went out again in a canoe through the weeds and got out into the main lake and soon found the unbanded female and caught her. We found our way back to shore in the fog as the male picked up the chick on the water. We processed that Loon and called it a night as it was solid fog now.
The catch team and support team caught twenty-two adult Loons, seventeen new captures, five recaptures and two chicks sampled. Thanks for the help from BRI, the Bronx Zoo run by the Wildlife Conservation Society and staff from the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation to get this project done.
This weekend Tom Murphy our guide in Yellowstone Park will be in Old Forge presenting programs Friday night at Kurt Gardner’s Shop Special event, then on Saturday night at View 7 to 9 PM all proceeds going to Keep Our Wildlife Wild, INC. Tom’s presentation will include many of his stunning photographs and his ski trip across the Yellowstone Park. He also has a new Bison book that he will be selling and signing. Don’t miss this, he is a special person in the conservation field you won’t forget! Tickets are on sale online, check the posters around town and at Kurt’s shop.
Some Loons are still on their second and some a third nest, most have young on the water so give them a break and take you photos from a distance but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo above: Sunrise North Bay Big Moose Lake
