More loon chicks have been reported on Maine's lakes this year.
Maine Audubon says that volunteers counted 298 chicks this summer, compared with just 224 last year. And while adult populations were down, fluctuations from year to year are common, and loon populations have more than doubled since 1983.
Hannah Young, Maine Audubon's loon count coordinator, attributes some of the success to an increased number of volunteers working to protect loon habitat in recent years, and to a restoration project launched this year that put artificial nesting platforms on lakes where loons have struggled in the past.
"So that has been really great. And we've had some really wonderful results from that this past year," she says.
Young says that boat strikes are the leading cause of loon deaths, and the birds are threatened by motorized water craft that speed near islands and shores.
