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1NewsletterMaine LoonRestoration Project2024Photo: Nick Leadley, touchthewildphotos.com

22023 marked the third year of the MaineLoon Restoration Project. An enormous thankyou to all of you for your hard work andcommitment to loon conservation! This groupcollectively donated thousands of hours tolaunch loon nesting rafts, post nesting signs, conduct monitoring andlake user outreach, and promote lead-free fishing in 2023 and the resultsare impressive! We’ve highlighted some of the many accomplishments inthis newsletter, but these pages can’t begin to capture all of the individualways you’ve contributed to increasing loon nesting success and reducingthreats to their survival.If you’re new to the project this year, know that you’re joining a communityof some of the most dedicated people I’ve encountered after decades inthe conservation field. Hundreds of people across the state are part of thisfive-year eort to give Maine loons better chances for breeding successand survival. While loons may be what drew most of us to this project, Iknow I speak for Maine Audubon sta and our partners at Maine Lakes,Lakes Environmental Association, and the Penobscot Nation that workingwith all of you is the highlight of our work. We’re inspired by you everytime we’re out on the water and your enthusiasm kept us energized onsome long, chilly days last season.It’s hard to think that the 2024 breeding season is right around the cornerwhen there’s snow on the ground! But the first males will be back to startdefending territories before you know it. We hope you’ll sign up for someof the spring events we have planned to reconnect with each other andprepare for the upcoming season.Thank you for being a part of the Maine Loon Restoration Project!More information:maineaudubon.org/loonrestorationUpcoming EventsLoon Nesting Raft Program: RefresherTraining for Past ParticipantsWednesday, March 2012—1pm and 5—6pmIntroduction to the Maine LoonRestoration ProjectTuesday March 2612—1pm and 5—6pmMonitoring Hatching Success of LoonBreeding PairsTuesday, April 2; 12—1pm and 5—6pmIntroduction to the Look Out for LoonsProgramWednesday April 1012—1pm and 5—6pmHosted by Maine Lakes AssociationLook Out for Loons Program: RefresherTraining for Past ParticipantsThursday, April 11, 5—6pmA Word from theProject CoordinatorNEWNEWAll these events are free, online webinarsNEW2
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3A rafting we will go...his year more than 330 local participants worked alongside Maine Audubon and Lakes Environ-mental Association to launch and monitor 57 loon nesting rafts to assist loon pairs that consistently struggle to hatch chicks—30 more rafts than last year! Two rafts were also deployed by the Penobscot Na-tion Department of Natural Resources on lakes within tribal lands. Participants volunteered more than 1400 hours to maintain nesting platforms and monitor breeding success.As a result of these eorts, seventeen chicks hatched from project rafts! Ten survived to at least 6 weeks (an age when they are likely to fledge), for an aver-age of 0.67 chicks produced per pair. This is a 6-fold increase over the average productivity of these pairs before the project started! Another 13 chicks hatched from natural nests in territories where project rafts weren’t used and ten survived. It’s great news, but when we look across all of the territories where rafts were placed, only 0.35 chicks survived per pair on average. Why was productivity lower for those pairs that didn’t use the rafts? A third of the pairs just didn’t nest this year. Our blog post “Singing in the Rain with the Maine Loon Resto-ration Project” details some of the challenges posed by the weather this year, for loons and all of us! Nest failure was also a factor. Some pairs abandoned their nests before the eggs hatched and others overincu-bated, sitting and sitting on eggs that didn’t hatch. Loon chicks also faced threats once they were out on the water with their families—1/3 of chicks hatched on rafts and natural nests within these territories didn’t survive. So the main takeaway is that the rafts are helping pairs with very low previous nesting success hatch more chicks! But rafts alone aren’t enough to restore their productivity. With your help, we’ll also continue to address disturbances that can lead to nest aban-donment and threats to chick and adult survival. If you’re interested in a raft or monitoring, contact loonrestoration@maineaudubon.org. If you’re on a lake in the Lakes Environmental Association Service Area (see mainelakes.org/lake-information), email maggie@mainelakes.org.T

4Looking Out for Loonshigh risk for disturbance to help warn people away from nests. Before placing a nest warning sign, we evaluated if potential protections from warning signs were likely to outweigh the risk of drawing attention to the nest. Over 40 yellow Look out for Loons signs were also posted at kiosks and lake access points to alert people to the presence of loons.This year we stepped up eorts to document incidents of disturbance, harassment, nest washouts from wake, and loon deaths from boat strikes or ingestion of lead fishing tackle. Thank you to everyone who reported issues to loonrestoration@maineaudubon.org to help us track threats to loons and inform our conservation eorts.For more information about Look Out for Loons: lakes.me/loons-next-phaseemail: loons@lakes.me or the last two years, project partners have been working with dozens of local volunteers to distribute outreach materials, conduct presentations, and place nesting signs in appropriate locations, all in an eort to raise awareness of actions we can take to better co-exist with loons. In 2023, Maine Lakes hired James Reddoch to manage and grow the Look Out for Loons outreach and nest protection program. Under his guidance, forty-four volunteers were trained on how to conduct local loon outreach through one-on-one conversations, presentations, outreach materials, and Fish Lead Free events. Sta and trained volunteers went on to reach more than 1000 lake users with messages about best practices in the presence of loons. Additionally, a total of 39 nesting signs were posted at raft and natural nesting sites deemed to be at FPhoto: Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary,Billy Helprin4

5Tracking nesting success in territories with rafts and nest warning signs We depend on your collective eyes and ears to report nest-ing outcomes over the season and, in 2023, hundreds of you tracked nesting success and chick survival within territories where rafts and signs were placed. Thank you! Your surveys help us learn where chicks hatch and if they survive and pro-vide clues as to why a pair might not be using the raft or nest-ing doesn’t succeed. And by being out there on the water observing, some of you have also been able to report when a boat’s wake flooded a nest or watercraft got too close to a loon family or nest. The goal is to monitor territories where nesting signs and rafts are deployed once per week throughout the breed-ing season. Any less than that and you’re likely to miss important events. If you can’t survey this often, can you recruit others to help? Can we help get you in touch with others on your lake who might be interested in splitting up the time? We’ll be hosting monitoring we-binars again this spring and hope to see everyone who will be launching a raft or posting a sign join one of the sessions! (see Upcoming Events). And as you’re watching a loon pair or family, remember to always stay far enough away that you don’t cause behavior changes. Move away if you see any signs of concern or distress (see the ‘How Close is Too Close?’ brochure to learn more). And don’t forget to submit your data either online or by emailing or mailing in a completed paper form which you can download here. Loon Pair Surveys5Photo: Carolyn Wronker

6he Fish Lead Free Initiative is not new to Maine, but it is being expanded through the Maine Loon Resto-ration Project. The goal of the program is to de-crease Common Loon lead poisoning deaths by reducing exposure to lead fishing tackle. Maine Audubon wildlife biologist and angler Laura Williams is now leading the charge with help from project partners and local participants like you. And these eorts are paying o! Eighty people turned in lead tackle in exchange for a retailer voucher to purchase lead-free alternatives. Local volunteers hosted 12 tackle exchange events where more than 400 people learned about the threat of lead poisoning to loons and received lead-free samples. Laura interacted with 1500 anglers at three Sportsman’s shows through-out the state and information about lead-free fishing was distributed at three ice fishing derbies. All together, the Fish Lead Free Program collected more than 75 lbs. of lead tackle and distributed over 2,600 pieces of lead-free tackle this year. That’s a lot of lead! Par-ticipants also helped get the word out about Maine’s lead law. Maine previously passed legislation ban-ning the sale or use of bare (unpainted) lead sinkers and jigs one ounce or less or 2.5 inches long or less. Starting September 1, 2024, the ban will also include the sale of painted jigs fitting these size and weight classes. The use of painted lead jigs within these ranges will be banned by September 1, 2026. Fish Lead FreeTSome of the lead tackle collected through the Fish Lead Free Initiative. Inset: wildlife biologist Laura Williams wears personal protection gear while sorting lead tackle for recycling. Lead tackle is toxic to humans as well as loons!

7What You Can Do to HelpMany of us feel a deep connection with loons. It’s why many of you joined this project. So it’s heartbreaking when you witness a loon get injured or discover a dead loon. Some of you experienced that heartbreak firsthand when several chicks this season were taken by predators, killed by other loons, or even killed by their own sibling. It’s tough to just stand by and let nature take its course, but these are situations where we don’t intervene. However, some loon parents and chicks also suc-cumbed to boat strikes, lead poisoning, and entangle-ments. Some nests failed due to disturbance or boat wakes. Human-influenced casualties, injuries, and Yet, there’s more work to do. At the end of summer and into the fall, calls flooded in about beached and dead loons that were found, a concerning number of which died from lead poisoning from ingestion of lead tackle. To get involved in the Fish Lead Free program, email: conserve@maineaudubon.org or for more information go to fishleadfree.org.nest failures like these are preventable and here are some ways you can help: • Get trained as a Look Out for Loons volunteer tohelp spread the word about how we can all betterco-exist with loons.• Help spread the word that loon lead poisoning ispreventable by switching to non-lead tackle alter-natives and let lake users know that Maine has alead law.• Get the word out to slow down around loons,steer clear of nesting sites, and obey no-wakelaws requiring no-wake speeds within 200’ ofshore and islands. When using wake surfingequipment, boaters can help by voluntarily stay-ing farther from shore (500’ is recommended).Kayakers, SUPs, and jet skis can reduce distur-bance to nesting loons by staying further fromshore during nesting. Laws are subject to change;stay current on all Maine boating regulations andlaws.• If you see or hear about a sick, injured, or deadloon, report it as soon as possible to the MaineState Warden Dispatch at 1-800-452-4664 and clickhere for additional contacts and information aboutnext steps. Potential rescuers will want to knowabout any known injuries or incidents, the condi-tion of the loon and its behaviors, as well as anyphotos or video. Please note that rescues aren’talways possible or advisable. Often rescues can’tbe performed unless a loon is beaching or tooweak to dive or swim away. And rescues are eventrickier if a loon is trapped in the ice in winter.

8• Maine Loon Restoration Project Overview: Arecorded webinar introducing the Maine LoonRestoration Project;• The Loon Raft Program Video: introduces how todetermine if a raft is warranted and how to constructand launch the two raft designs supported by thisproject;• Nesting Raft Guide: a PDF covering the sameinformation as the raft video with additional detailsand links to resources;• Look Out for Loons Informational Session: arecorded webinar introducing the Look Out forLoons Education and Outreach Program;• Look Out for Loons Training Video: a videocovering the basics about loons and opportunities tocontribute to loon outreach;• “How Close Is Too Close”, Living in Loon Territory,and Common Loon brochuresLoon ResourcesTWhat’s around the loon’s leg?! his loon isn’t entangled, it’s banded.If you see colored bands like this around a loon’s legs, don’t worry, but DO snap a picture or at least note the color and order of the bands on each leg (You can find a color chart here). Then email bri@briwildlife.org with the information. Scientists place bands on loons to help shed light on their life spans, where they migrate, age at first breeding, how long loons stick with their mates, and more—all things we can only learn by tracking individual loons. When these bands were photographed by Mike Abell on Granny Kent Pond, we learned that this loon hatched on a lake in New Hampshire 38 miles away! As a chick, it was found entangled in fishing line and was rescued.

10MAINEAUDUBON.ORG/LOON RESTORATIONLAKES.ME/LOONSMAINE LOON RESTORATION PROJECTPhoto: Rob TruePhoto: Allen BrownePhoto: Callie Wronker