New residents on the lake

Rec'd this in the overnight email:

Karl,

I thought you might be interested in this, and perhaps want to include it on your website.

This past Friday, August 10, 2007, was a quiet rainy day at the lake. That changed in dramatic fashion at about 2:00 p.m. when we heard the unmistakable cry of the loon from the middle of the lake. We ran down to the dock to see the loon swimming just north of Lamb's Cove. Our neighbor, Fred Swedberg, also came to watch, and he commented that never in his 59 years had he heard such a racket on the water.

The loon seemed to be enjoying hearing his echo bouncing off the western side of the lake, and kept calling for several minutes. We thought we heard a second loon calling in response from the south end of the lake.

We watched for about half and hour. During that time the loon made several dives and resurfaced at various places in the southern part of the lake. The longest dive started near the island and after about two minutes the loon popped up north of Lamb's Cove again, and then slowly swam north toward the swamp at the northwest end of the lake.

Don Wilson commented the next day that he thinks a pair of loons may be nesting in the swamp, and he also noted that loons like to be in a quiet spot away from people, so it is best not to try to get close to them if we want to encourage them to live on the lake.

It was almost exactly a year ago that I saw a loon very close to our dock. This year I was more prepared with binoculars and a camera, and I was able to get two pictures, although the images are not very distinct.

The loon was calling loudly again during the night, and woke the Lafortune family at about 4:00 a.m. when he was in Lamb's Cove. We also heard more distant calls after sunrise on Sunday.

We will be watchful when we are at the lake, and we hope to enjoy more loon activity during the remainder of the summer!

Paul and Nordie Sundberg

Lighthouse Rd.