Last week the Hardwick Gazette ran a story about two loons caught at Lake Eligo in Greensboro. (See my blog posting on December 18th.) One bird was miraculously able to become airborne and escape from the nearly completely frozen over pond, but the second, probably younger loon, remained trapped within a small area of open water. For eight days residents at the pond watched and hoped the youngster would somehow be able to leave. Finally, on the 9th day, the lake completely enclosed by ice, Dan Goodrich, who lives in Greensboro spotted the loon, alive but exhausted from unsuccessful efforts to take off from the ice.

Eric Hansen from the Vermont Wildlife Department was called to the scene again, the loon was captured and taken to open water on Lake Champlain where there is sufficient open water for the bird to manage a take-off.

Our thanks to Ross Connolly, editor of The Hardwick Gazette for his initial story, to Dan Goodrich for the follow-up, and to Eric Hansen for his help in making this year-end story one with a happy ending. We trust the loon will be at some point well south of Vermont as the New Year begins, reunited with family, somewhat wiser and warning other loons of the dangers of hanging out too long in the face of Vermont winter weather.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
FROM
JOE'S POND

Loons Trapped by Ice on Vermont’s Lake Eligo in Greensboro

The thermometer had dropped steadily over the weekend and Eligo Lake was nearly frozen over last Monday, December 12^th , when Dan Goodrich, who lives on the lake, noticed two loons swimming in the only open water left, an opening perhaps 20 feet across in the middle of the lake. They occasionally stood up in the water and stretched their wings, called, and swam in the small circle of open water. Goodrich knew loons need 300 feet or more of open water to be able to get airborne, and realized the birds were trapped. He set up a video camera in order to observe the birds and called Eric Hanson, the state’s loon biologist who lives in nearby Craftsbury.

Hanson has relocated loons similarly stranded by going onto the ice with skis or snowshoes and netting them, then releasing them where there’s enough open water for them to take off. When he arrived at Eligo on Tuesday, he knew the ice was too thin to attempt that sort of rescue, so he decided to wait a day or so for the lake to freeze over completely and then perhaps enlist the aid of the Craftsbury fire department to ask for volunteers to perhaps hold a winter rescue drill. He thought the loons would be able to come up onto the ice, and because they don’t move well out of the water, they would be comparatively easy to catch. He was afraid if he tried to rescue them when there was still the open patch of water they might dive and be unable to find the hole again when they needed to come up for air.

Then, on Tuesday, one of the loons managed a surprising feat. Using the 20 feet of open water, the loon started its takeoff, gained enough momentum to lift over the edge of the ice and somehow managed to flap and bounce along the snow-covered ice, finally rising three or four feet above the surface. Once in the air, the bird banked around and headed south. Goodrich captured the spectacular takeoff on videotape. Hanson said he wouldn’t have believed what had happened if he hadn’t actually seen it.

The second loon had not followed the first one by the time the Gazette went to press, but there may be a report on that in next week’s issue, in which case we’ll pass the information on to you here.

Hanson said loons normally leave in late fall and fly south to Martha’s Vineyard Sound, the eastern shore of Maryland or North Carolina for the winter.

As far as we know, the loons that visited Joe’s Pond this year all left without incident. We have often worried that they might not be able to leave when they are still around in December, but perhaps they aren’t as vulnerable as we have thought.

The above information was taken from an article by Ross Connolly in the December 14^th, 2005 issue of The Hardwick Gazette.

The following message came to me from our neighbor, "Chip" Taylor. Chip is active with the Cabot Fire Department and emergency services and is a ham radio operator. He hopes to find people who are interested in becoming volunteer "ham" operators to assist in case of some disaster. Here is Chip's message:

As you know, emergency communciations are critical in any disaster. Recently both the Marshfield and Cabot fire departments received Homeland Security grant money to equip their fire stations with amateur "ham" radio communications gear. In any kind of disaster these radios could be used to supplement fire communications, contact the State Emergency Operating Center in Waterbury, and assist the Red Cross with health and morale messages. The only thing lacking is licensed hams to operate the radios.

So, an amateur radio licensing course is being scheduled in January to be held at the Marshfield fire station. The plan is to have three four-hour classes on consecutive Sundays starting around January 8th with an exam the final week.

Knowledge of Morse code is no longer required and the exam is a simple multiple-choice test of about 30 questions. Those who pass will be encouraged to assist with emergency communciations if called on, and are free to explore other aspects of the amateur radio hobby such as chatting with other hams around the world (or even on the International Space Station!), learning more about electronics, setting up an amateur television station, and yes, even learning about Morse code. There are a lot of facets to the hobby.

The lead instructor is Jane English from Calais, and her phone number is: 802-456-1004. The course itself is free, however there is a cost for workbooks and instructional material which will be around $50 per student.

If you have questions, contact Jane English at the above number, or get in touch with Chip at w1aim@sover.net.