Shared News From Eric Hansen

 Gretchen Farnsworth sent me photos and information from Eric Hansen that I am sharing with you. He was aware of the predicament the loon I wrote about here found itself in and wanted us to know that this unfortunate drama plays out in many other lakes and ponds, too. The photos are from Molly's Falls Reservoir, also known as the Marshfield Dam (although it is actually entirely within the town of Cabot!), which I like to remind everyone!

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in watching and protecting our own loon neighbors, we forget that others who reside on lakes in Vermont are witnessing similar would-be tragedies, fortunately not all ending badly.  Here is a string of emails between Eric and Suzanne [Roberts], who lives at Molly's Falls Reservoir:

Subject: loons in ice - ability to take off

Hi all, Busy week monitoring loons in holes in ice.  3 on Mollys Falls Res, 1 on Thurman Dix Res, 1 on Joes (there were 4 the week before), 1 on Little Averill. The one on Joe's was forced up onto the ice and 3 eagles got it.  It happens.  But most if not all the other loons like motivated and made the mad dash.  Suzanne Roberts on MF [Mollys Falls Reservoir] witnessed the take-off.  I was going to go down this a.m. to check ice thickness but as of yesterday the game warden could not even walk 20 feet out. 

Photos are from Suzanne on MF res.

[Top photo is the eagle swooping in on an iced-in loon; the bottom photo shows three loons iced in. Story in her emails below. Apparently they all were able to escape.]

From Suzanne

"I can’t believe it, but two of the loons were just able to fly off the pond.  One was being followed by the eagle but appeared to be getting away and was gaining elevation when we lost sight of it.  So now there is only one in the hole on the pond.  With any luck it will try to follow the other two!"

 Amazing!

 From Suzanne later in the afternoon:

"The last loon is gone, it had been trying to fly.  Missed seeing it go, but it's no longer there."

 From Eric to Gretchen and Jim Farnsworth and others:

I sent this to some of you but similar story from No. 10 pond last winter that Rowan Jacobsen wrote up for Yankee Magazine.  He wrote a really fun book on apples, varieties, history of the heirlooms, and great recipes.  He lives next to the pond.

Please forward this to anyone who's been watching and wondering.  Jim and Gretchen, could you send to Jane Brown - her story was right on, but I'm sure she'll be glad to [know] most loons get off.

Yankee Magazine story.

My thanks to Eric and to Gretchen. Our devotion to loons is neither unusual nor unrewarded. It is good to know that more often than not, the loons can muster the strength to take off on their own. Our unfortunate bird was no match for three hungry eagles.

A note: Eric Hansen was first introduced to our Joe's Pond community when he became coordinator of the Vermont Loon Recovery Project in about 1994. He worked with Kevin Johnson to position a nesting platform at the northern end of the pond, and records show that it wasn't until 1998 that loons successfully raised a chick here. At that time, Ray and Evelyn Richer were "overseers" of our loons, a role that Jim and Gretchen Farnsworth now have assumed. The loons here have had a variety of obstacles and tragedies, but still there are now two pairs that regularly nest here, and an occasional loner that stops by but is generally discouraged by the resident loons from staying. We breathe a sigh of relief when chicks are successfully hatched, but then the vigil begins, watching for dangers such as  resident eagles and humans who sometimes get too close to the loon families. We do what we can to protect the beautiful creatures, but natural predators like large fish and eagles are beyond human intervention. We are grateful for people like Eric who are available for professional help and advice.

By the way, the story in Yankee Magazine was about No. 10 Pond in Woodbury, VT.