Blog

LOON TIME!

Time to leave us, that is. Spring loon migration is in full swing. On some days in the early predawn you can hear Loons hooting over most of the lower basin. On other days, the lake can be hauntingly quiet, like it was this past Tuesday morning when we saw only 10 or 12 loons. Such is the nature of spring migration. But on Wednesday morning loons were everywhere. Clearly the loons arrived late that Tuesday afternoon. And for Friday and Saturdays’ before- sunrise sojourns, the heavens had clearly rained loons. And Bonaparte’s gulls, and Red-breasted mergansers, and Coots by the hundreds. It has been a nearly overwhelming couple of mornings, the kind of mornings you must remind yourself to breathe, as loons fly right above your boat. The loon research is done for the year, soon followed by the loons. The two remarkable loon scientists, Dr’s James Paruk and Jay Mager, and all the loon lovers and professionals, here from Florida to Maine to Colorado. They are all gone. There is a deep and certain sadness to the end of all this, as there is a certain sadness at the end of each season. And yet a certain joy too, as the seasons change and the new season slowly put us under her spell.