For the first time since 2019, our resident pair of loons have successfully nested! A number of us have been monitoring the nest all month. Mary Gingrow-Shaw texted me early on the afternoon of June 30th to say she thought that, judging from the loon’s behavior, that hatching imminent. In fact, later that afternoon Eleanor Goldberg and Malcolm Burson spotted the loons with 1 chick in the cove on the north shore where they nested but they didn’t want to intrude on them at that time to get pictures. Today both parents and 2 chicks paraded past their dock close enough that Eleanor was able to easily take these pictures. You’ll find a few more pictures in the Spring/Summer 2025 photo gallery.

Raising baby loons to adulthood is not easy and the chances that both of the chicks will survive to fly off in the fall are slim. Not only do snapping turtles, Great Blue Herons, and Bald Eagles prey on loon babies, the chicks compete with each other for food and their parents attention and while it’s not guaranteed, sadly, all too often one of the chicks just doesn’t make it. Please, if you’re out and about on the lake this summer and you spot this family of Loons, please minimize your wake and give them a wide berth.

We’ll post more loon family pictures over the course of the summer. If you manage to get some pictures, send them to me and I may put them on the website 🙂