Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary
The Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary is dedicated to conservation, research, and education in the Somes Pond-Long Pond watershed and beyond
Just in case Ray's video didn't stay on the last post description I wrote below.
Here it is again!
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When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
Ray Yeager was able to catch the 93 day old Upper Hadlock loon chick taking flight this morning at 0648 - great timing!
The chick has been making runs on the water and short test flights, but this was its real fledging event flight. It is a labored effort to get up enough momentum, but she or he gained altitude eventually and headed towards nearby Lower Hadlock Pond. Ray checked to see if it landed over there but it had not. I checked both ponds this afternoon and no loons were present. The chick likely landed somewhere close by on the ocean, probably just off Northeast Harbor.
Many loons are gathering in just off our shores as they depart interior lakes and this one may join one of those groups. Sanctuary Assistant Rusty Taylor observed a group of 22 loons south of Greening Island at the mouth of Somes Sound on Friday evening. They may winter right in our neighborhood or head farther south along the coast.
It is bittersweet for us loon observers, to have the chicks (and adults) depart the lakes where they have grown up over the past three months or so, but a triumph that they are able to do so. We are on track to have five chicks fledge in the next days or weeks. The next one ready to go, if it didn't already leave today, is the Somes Pond youngster that we think is a male based on some partial yodel calls (that only males perform). That 98 day old loon (as of today) made its likely 1st flight of 200 feet in length and 2 feet of elevation on Thursday. Once chicks, now juveniles, make their 1st substantial flights they typically don't stick around. There are exceptions to this, with some young ones staying on their natal lakes into late fall. We just don't want them to stay into winter when lake ice coverage poses real problems.
Thanks to Lisa Horsch Clark of Friends of Acadia for hosting the Pints for a Purpose talk series and our common loon biology/behavior/conservation discussion last evening - it was a lot of fun thanks to all who participated!
