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Mother-Daughter Duo Participate in 25th Annual Maine Loon Count

July 29, 2008 - ACTON -- Everyone who knows Jane Kirton knows she loves loons.

"I've always kept track of the amount of loons that we've had on the lake," said Kirton, whose family has a camp on Square Pond, which is bordered by both Shapleigh and Acton. "Loons are just my kindred spirits, and I love them."

For the past 10-plus years, Kirton, of Sanford, has put her love of loons to practical use. She and her 82-year-old mother Marjorie Chadbourne are veteran participants of the Maine Audubon's annual loon count. During the event, volunteers from all over the state are assigned different lakes and ponds in which they observe, then record, the number of loons they see. The count, which always takes place on the third Saturday in July, celebrated its 25th anniversary on July 20.

Starting at 7 a.m., the count lasts either a half hour or an hour, depending on the size of the lake, said Kirton, who also serves as the York County loon count volunteer coordinator. As a part of the Maine Loon Project, an effort dedicated to the research and conservation of loons, the count helps scientists assess Maine's loon population, according to the Audubon's official Web site.

The average loon is around three feet long, from head to tail, according to the Audubon's Web site. They weigh around nine pounds and have a wing span of around four feet.

The loons' low-whistle call is almost as recognizable as their black-and-white speckled feathers, and, while the counting process may not be an exact science, Kirton said it's easy to spot the birds. Generally, loons fly or walk only to nest or migrate. So, chances are, if a volunteer circled the perimeter of a lake they would get a good idea of the number of birds living there.

"It's not hard to count them; generally, they're just floating around," Kirton said. "They come back to the same lake, summer after summer. And it's been said that they mate for life."

Each volunteer has a map of the lake in which they're counting, Kirton said, and the volunteer must mark the direction in which they start the search and where the loons are located. During the count on July 20, Kirton and her mother recorded seeing nine loons, the same number Square Pond had in 2007.

"You tell people you're going to count loons and they go, "...what?'" Kirton said. "But (loons) make you take a deep breath. They're safe, they're peaceful, they're constant. They're part of the lake."


By Kate Power www.keepmecurrent.com July 25, 2008
Web Editor


Lakes: Square Pond
Regions: Sanford


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