Loon Update

 I've received some really great photos from Nancy Temple (West Shore Road) this weekend and want to share them with you. I have not had many reports since early in the summer about our loons, so I was very happy to hear from Nancy. Here's her message I received this morning:

Hi Jane, 

Saturday morning there were 9 loons swimming in front of our camp on West Shore road. It actually looked like a meeting of the lions, Hahaha. I do think that some were visitors. When we are out in the boat we usually see 3 up at the northwest part of the pond and then we usually see 2 in the first pond. This morning there were 3 swimming together in the Southern part of the third pond. I’m not sure of the actual number living on the pond. I did photograph the bunch on Saturday that were in front of camp. I will attach the photo of a group of 4, I haven’t edited any others from that day yet.

It is great to know that there are so many loons on our pond and that they seem to be thriving here, in spite of all the activity by humans. They seem to acclimate to us pretty well - as long as we don't interfere with them when they are nesting or when the chicks are really small. We had several eagle sightings in the past, and they are serious predators on loon families. 

 

Many thanks to Nancy for not only the beautiful photos, but also for the loon count. I expect they are congregating, getting ready to leave Joe's Pond for their coastal winter habitat - much like a lot of our human summer visitors.

 

We are wondering how many of our Joe's Pond community will reconsider heading out of Vermont this year. I suspect some will delay leaving or  perhaps decide to stay here for the winter rather than go to some of the warmer states that still have a high incidence of Covid-19. I know parents with children who are returning to school are concerned, and rightfully so. Our granddaughter, JoAnn, left this week to go back to Austin, Texas. She was concerned, but this is her senior year and she will have only one in-person class this first semester, and she is living off campus so has good control over her environment. Still, we worry about her - she had to fly, but will remain quarantined for 14 days now she has arrived there. Our younger grand, Tangeni, will start school at Waterford (4th grade) in a few weeks, and this is concerning, as well, but the school seems to have a good handle on how they will operate, so we're confident she will be safe. 

 

We haven't seen much of our family this summer, sadly, and when we saw them it was from a distance - no hugs, and that's hard. We sure miss having them in and out of the house and seeing the kids when they were at camp only briefly and at a distance, but getting the virus would likely be disastrous for either of us, and we keep in touch by phone and our in-person conversations are well distanced. We hope things will be better by next summer. In the meantime, please be careful, respect others by wearing a mask in public, and if you decide to head to a warmer climate later this fall, take extra precautions.