Maine Audubon: Loon count reveals low number of chicks

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070206loons.html

FALMOUTH - The number of loon chicks in Maine Audubon's annual count last summer was the second-lowest in 23 years, the conservation organization said Monday.

Maine Audubon biologists estimate that the loon population in the southern half of the state stands at 2,595 adults and 141 chicks.

The adult count was down 14 percent from 2005, when just over 3,000 loons were counted. The number of chicks was the second-lowest on record since Maine Audubon began holding its annual loon counts in 1983.

Heavy rains last spring and early summer made for a difficult nesting season, said Susan Gallo, director of Audubon's Maine Loon Project. It's possible, she said, that some of the loons delayed their nesting and that the actual number of chicks was higher than the estimate.

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[kestrel91316]

1. Irrelevant to the powers that be. Loons have no economic value,

no way to be exploited for massive corporate profits. They are just useless eaters. Get them all out of the way.

:sarcasm:

[jpak]

2. But...but...but...they serenade all those "Golden Dollar" tourists at night!!!

AaaaaaOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo

http://www.atl.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/loons/images.html