Loon Counting: The Best Summer Ever

I don't remember the year, but I will never forget the day. It was a Saturday in July that we kayaked on Swain's Lake in Barrington, NH. I thought my Aunt Evanor was the coolest person ever because she was an official loon counter on the lake where she lived.

When she couldn't negotiate getting in and out of the boat anymore, she let me take over -- sad replacement that I was. Not that I didn't have enough enthusiasm or respect for the position; it's just that I am so slow at everything I do -- I guess I really have earned my NH cousins' nickname for me -- speedy. Coming from NJ didn't help either. So when we joined the Yankee (no, not the NY Yankees) counters out on the lake, I tried my hardest to keep up.

My cousin Pat and I were to scan the upper lake for nesting loons and especially chicks. We could only count between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. Any longer, and the loons could fly to an adjoining lake and throw off the count there. Pat rowed around the lake three times to my single pass. My older cousins scanned the lower, larger portion of the lake.

I was so excited when we spotted a pair and their chick. Success! Even more heartening was the boys' announcement that they saw one too. The loon population was growing. It was 1982 when the Audobon Society's Loon Preservation Committee began keeping an annual count of the loons. It was a thrill to sign the sighting sheet and now "officially" belong to preservation efforts of my beloved summer lake and its haven for the common loon.

www.loon.org (you can hear the voice of the loon)