A Common Loon with two hatchlings on a Vermont lake offers inspiration to participate in LoonWatch this Saturday (photo by Ron Kelley).

This Saturday, LoonWatch volunteers will search for loons on area lakes and ponds across Vermont during their annual loon count, which is a vital component of the conservation of Common Loons. LoonWatch participants provide essential data that’s used for the management, protection, and continued recovery of Common Loon populations across Vermont. LoonWatch is coordinated by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) and it exemplifies the Center’s passion for uniting citizens and science for conservation.

LoonWatch volunteers can join the fun for a single day during the VCE’s annual loon count on July 20th, or you can help monitor the Common Loons on a lake or pond on a regular basis. Here’s how it works: On the third Saturday of July every year, LoonWatch volunteers take to the water to count loons. It’s the single most effective way for VCE to document and track nesting populations of loons across the state.

You can also participate in the Adopt-a-Lake Program to help monitor a lake with known loon activity. For lakes with nesting loon pairs, volunteers regularly monitor the nesting site weekly or every two or three weeks (depending on the cycle of loon activity) from mid-May through August. On lakes with loon activity but no nests, volunteers visit and monitor the pair one to four times per month from mid-May to mid-July.

Any loon sighting is worth recording for science. Whether you join the LoonWatch effort or not, please add your information about any Common Loon encounters to the growing collection of data contributed by casual and expert birders alike on Vermont eBird (see link below).

Casual Surveys are ideal for people who like to get out to lakes but may not have the time to consistently observe a lake throughout the summer. Good science may include not finding what you are seeking, and that means watching lakes without known loon activity to see if any pairs of Common Loons might be investigating a given wetland for future nest sites.

To get in touch with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies to participate in LoonWatch and other activities, see https://vtecostudies.org/projects/lakes-ponds/common-loon-conservation/loonwatch/ and to log your Common Loon sightings in Vermont, go to https://ebird.org/vt/home