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We saw Bob!

Bob is the first loon we ever banded, one very cold night in February of 2016. For the nine years that followed, we have seen him each winter, and in the same area of the lake. It’s quite remarkable, really. This year I was losing hope, when, on the second day of this year’s loon research week, there he was! Rolled over to preen his belly feathers, he seemed to wave his banded leg at us. It’s a behavior Bob does every year. Really! Loons are known to be site loyal to their natal lakes and regions most every breeding season, but it has not been known definitively if loons are also site loyal in winter. Well, Bob’s presence here, for 10 straight years now, proves emphatically that at least some loons are indeed site loyal to their winter waters. Good stuff, don’t you know. It’s the beginning of loon migration season now, proven by the arrival of Bonaparte’s gulls this week, the harbinger gull of spring loon migration each year. Kay counted over a hundred just looking from the main dock. Jocassee becomes alive with waterbirds this time of year. ~B