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Montana Loon Society2015 Newsletter

2014 Rogers Lake Loon RescueOn Tuesday, November 18, 2014, trained emergen-cy rescue personnel wearing dry suits rescued a ju-venile common loon trapped in a small patch ofopen water on Rogers Lake.

Unexpected low temperatures earlier in Novem-ber caused the lake to quickly freeze. Lake-shorehomeowners realized a loon was swimming in theopen water unable to take off. No chicks survivedon the lake in 2014, so the young bird had probablystopped on the lake during migration.

Homeowners contacted Gael Bissell of MT FishWildlife and Parks. Bissell put together a rescueteam, including Jon Obst with MT Fish Wildlifeand Parks, Bob Lee of Flathead Search and Rescue,and Gary Moses, recently retired from the NationalPark Service with training in rescues.

The rescue team was able to walk out on thethicker-than-usual ice for that time of year to drawnear to the loon. Using a safety sled and ropes, theteam spread a mist net to capture the loon. After acouple dives, it dove into the net and became entan-gled. The bird was lifted out of the water andplaced in a pet carrier.

The juvenile bird was examined by veterinarian,Dr. Dennis Dugger of Central Valley Animal Hos-pital in Kalispell. An x-ray showed no brokenbones, but it had a damaged wrist on one wing,which may be the reason why the bird hadn’t con-tinued its migration. Dr. Dugger felt the loon’swrist would heal with time, so the bird was bandedand released on Flathead Lake.

This 2014 rescue was far different from a 1999

loon rescue on Rogers Lake. For that rescue home-owners jumped up and down in a small aluminumboat to break a path through thin ice to the trappedloon. (The 1999 bird was probably one of the lake’spair and hadn’t migrated due to a large swath ofmissing flight feathers.)

However, like the 1999 rescue, the 2014 rescuewas also filmed. A boxed DVD set, The GreatMontana Loon Rescue, Volumes 1(1999) and 2 (2014), produced byWild and Free Montana, John AshleyFine Art Photography in Kalispell isnow available from the MontanaLoon Society by emailing montana-loons@blackfoot.net. Each set is$20 plus $5 shipping. Proceeds bene-fit the Montana Loon Society.

The Montana Loon Society supports the CommonLoon Working Group recommenda ons that commonloon rescues should be a empted in some cases. Arescue may be appropriate when a loon is injured orwhen it is unable to escape from a situa on such as awet highway or a freezing water body. All rescuesshould be a empted by a trained team.

To read the full recommenda ons please go top://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/ and

click on the picture of the loon. Then click on “Handlingof Live Common Loons and Specimens.”

The bird’s bands include: left leg - silverUSFS band above, blue with white dot below;right leg - yellow above yellow. If you spot a loonwith these bands, please report when and whereto Gael Bissell: gbissell@mt.gov.

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President’s CornerBy MLS President, Lynn Kelly

MLS President Lynn Kellyscoping for loons on See-ley Lake

It's April already - how can that be? Yet, the factthat I am burning leaves, raking Douglas fir conesand watching the daffodils and tulips emerge testi-fies to the arrival of spring and loons. In fact, aloon was just sighted on Easter Sunday by DonnaLove. Soon the floating loon signs will be poppingup on the lakes like mushrooms in the lawn andanother "loon season" will be off and running.

I want to emphasize how important it is for themembers of the Montana Loon Society to be in-volved in the work of "loon season". I think thevolunteering spirit of MLS was dampened a bitwhen loon rangers hit the ground some years ago.We may have placed our feet up on our preverbaldesks and relaxed too much because the cavalry(loon rangers) were on the job, so, in some of ourminds, volunteers weren't needed. Nothing couldbe further from the truth!

We are so blessed to have many agency person-nel (plus rangers) who bust their tails every yearon behalf of loons. Yet, this has traditionally beena joint venture of both agency folk and volunteers.So I would encourage members of MLS to checkout the list of tasks that follows and if somethingstrikes your fancy, check the newsletter for theloon coordinator nearest your location and callthem. Let them know that you would like to help.If you know you would like to be more involvedthen consider attending the Loon Ranger Trainingday May 2 at Seeley Lake.

The most common tasks are putting out andgathering in the floating loon signs, helping withpublic education on boat ramps, participating inMay and/or July loon surveys and looking forbanded loons. We also need MLS folk to "man"loon tables at events such as the Family ForestryForum in Columbia Falls and other occasions thatinvolve the presence of our loon displays.

The most critical task to be done is placingfloating loon signs on a loon territory as soon asnest initiation is suspected. This may need to bedone by mid-April to mid-May before the loonrangers are even on the job! The loon literature isclear that earlier nest attempts are the most suc-cessful. It is possible that loons will be attemptingto nest earlier this year so we need to be watchingfor those early nest initiations and be ready to postthe signs. Additional help during this time is veryhelpful!

The second critical task is public education on

ramps during Memorial Day and Fourth of Julyweekends. The loon rangers can only be in one placeat a time so if they know that a MLS volunteer iscovering the public education on another lake, thatis a huge help.

The third critical task is getting the floating signsoff the lakes as soon as a family unit is no longerusing the closure. We have had big hiccups with thistask and failure to remove signs can give loon man-agement a black eye with anglers who are convincedthat the biggest fish are behind the signs! We needto be prompt with sign removal and extra help dur-ing this period of time is a real relief.

The fourth task is helping with loon surveys. TheMay survey (May 16) is designed to document thepresence of loons or nesting activity while the LoonDay Survey on July 18 is a "snap shot" of the totalloon population including the number of survivingchicks. Both surveys are critical to loon manage-ment. All you do is let your area coordinator knowthat you would like to survey your favorite lake(s) inMay and/or July, fill out the correct forms and getthem back to the coordinator asap. Attending theloon training in May would greatly help in yourability to do these surveys correctly. This could be avery active fire year which would reduce the numberof agency personnel available for the surveys. Vol-unteers could be the critical difference for our LoonDay survey in July.

The final chance to help can actually earn yousome money! About half of our loon population isbanded- thanks to the efforts of our amazing Com-mon Loon Working Group and loon rangers. This isa fantastic statistic but unfortunately, our ability tofind/track these banded birds is always limited. Thedocumentation of the movements of banded birds iscritical to our understanding of how loons use theirlandscapes. Attending the loon ranger trainingwould be a huge help to you if you would like tohelp with band locations. Check out the informationregarding the band contest in this newsletter.

We so appreciate that you are a member of MLSand that you are reading this newsletter. We wouldalso love for you to join us this summer on your fa-vorite loon lake(s) as a volunteer. Hope to see yousoon ..... at "the lake"!

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Area Loon Reports are composed each year byloon rangers hired as summer college interns, orby U.S. Forest Service or MT FWP employees.All report to the Common Loon Working Group(CLWG), a collection of individuals from variousagencies, the Confederate Salish and KootenaiTribes, and industry, who along with MLS, moni-tor Montana’s loons, place signs and platformsduring loon season mid-May to mid-July, andprovide public education. Chicks counted onLoon Day in July are assumed to have survivedand migrated in fall. The following summariesare greatly condensed versions of longer reports.To obtain full length versions contact Chris Ham-mond, 406-752-4582, chammond@mt.gov

2014 AREA LOON REPORTS

Blackfoot/Clearwater (Ovando/Seeley Lake)Loon Ranger Cory Reiniger

The 2014 Blackfoot/Clearwater loon season cov-ered 20 lakes. Nesting success was only 40%,which is lower than usual due to high spring run-off. Nesting pairs were found on 8 territories. TheClearwater had six nests, which produced 7chicks (2 on Rainy, 1 on Summit, 1 on Clearwa-ter, 2 on Placid, and 1 on Hidden. Hidden Lakehasn’t had a nest in recorded history. It hatched 2chicks, but only 1 survived.) Two nests in thisarea failed: Seeley Lake lost its nest due to highwater and didn’t renest. Lake Alva loons nestedon the island, but lost the nest (cause unknown).

In the Blackfoot (Ovando) area two nests pro-duced 2 chicks (1 on Shoup and 1 on Upsata,which is the third year in a row that Upsata had achick, which is a great comeback after severalyears of no chicks.) Hard to find and reach, LittleDoney may have had a nest as two loons wereobserved on the lake early in the season, but laterno chicks were seen. In all, 9 chicks in this com-bined area survived until July Loon Day.

Eureka AreaSummarized by Hailey Graf (loon ranger)Reported by Lynn Johnson

The Eureka area hatched 2 chicks on 1 lake(Carpenter). This is the first documented success-ful hatching in decades on this lake which isplagued by water level fluctuations and human/dog activity on the nesting island/peninsula nearthe boat launch. Contacts continue to be made onthis lake to educate anglers, recreators, and landowners. Water fluctuations could be dealt with ifloons would nest on the floating platform—if on-ly loons could read! Both adults on this lake werebanded on June 22nd. Single adults were reportedat Sophie, Moran and Costich and 8 birds werereported on the reservoir. Monitoring of theselakes will continue as pairs of birds have beenreported on these lakes in the past. Total numberof chicks for this area: 2.

Blackfeet Indian ReservationLoon Ranger Michael Bomberg

During May-July 2014 Glacier National Park’sCitizen Science Program Coordinator, Jami Belt,supervised a student intern from the BlackfeetCommunity College to conduct surveys on Com-mon Loons on Blackfeet Reservation lakes, tocoordinate volunteers during an annual looncount, and to prepare a final summary report onthe status of loons. The internship is sponsored bythe Montana Loon Society and Biodiversity Re-search Institute, and facilitated by a memorandumof agreement between Blackfeet Community Col-lege and the Montana Loon Society. Lakes sur-veyed included Green, Four Horns, Twin, Mitten,Kipp, Lower St Mary, Lower Two Medicine andMission where on3 single loon was seen. Alt-hough not typically nesting lakes, the area is im-portant for foraging and migration.

2014 BlackfeetIndian Reserva-tion Loon Rang-er MichaelBomberg look-ing for loons.

2014 Blackfoot/Clearwater LoonRanger Cory Rei-niger at Seeley LakeViewing Blind atSeeley Lake RangerStation.

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Glacier National ParkSubmitted by Jami BeltIn 2014, 118 citizen scientists contributed 3,485hours and completed 257 loon surveys. Forty-oneof the 45 priority lakes were surveyed at least threetimes including all priority 1, 2 and 3 lakes. Theseason-long loon population estimate was 51 resi-dent adults (18 pairs and 15 singles) and 12 chicksin nine broods on nine lakes. During loon days,50 adults (17 pairs and 16 singles) and 11 chicks ineight broods were observed. Chick production wasas high this year than it has been since the estab-lishment of the citizen science project in 2006, with12 chicks. The long-term trend indicates that thenumbers of common loons in GNP is increasing,but it is unclear whether that is a result of increasedchick production or better detection of chicks. Thefecundity rate of GNP’s loon population (0.479)barely meets the criteria of 0.48 chicks fledged perterritorial pair needed to maintain a stable popula-tion and is lower than the fecundity rate of Mon-tana’s common loon population as a whole. Chickhatch dates and nests sites were pinpointed at overhalf 2014 nesting lakes, providing an invaluableresource for managers aiming to prevent nest dis-turbance. More frequent monitoring is needed torefine chick hatch dates and find both successfuland unsuccessful nests. This information will allowus to better detect disturbance patterns and to trackchanges that may occur with life cycle timing dueto Climate changes. The project will continue dur-ing the summer of 2015. 11 chicks survived in thisarea until July Loon Day.

Kalispell WestSubmitted by Gael Bissell, MT FWPKalispell West had one of its best years in overallchick production with 82% nesting success result-ing in 13 chicks surviving to July Loon Day. TheThompson Chain of Lakes hatched eight chicksfrom Little McGregor, Lower Thompson and Up-per Thompson Lakes. Ashley Lake produced fourchicks and Lone Lake one chick. Two chicks thatsuccessfully hatched on Lake Rogers were mostlikely lost to eagle predation within 7-10 days ofhatching. Nesting was disrupted for unknown rea-sons on Island Lake; anglers most likely caused

Loons in Glacier Na-tional Park enjoying aquiet lake. GNP Photo

2014 Area Loon Reports Continued…

Flathead Basin #2, (DNRC Lakes in North Flat-head and North Fork)Submitted by Chris ForristalA total of nine lakes were surveyed during the 2014nesting season. Of these lakes, two had confirmednesting attempts and two other lakes had loon pairsbut no apparent nesting. Loons at Boyle Lake andBeaver Lake successfully nested and producedchicks that likely fledged, with one chick fromBoyle and two chicks from Beaver. One of thechicks at Beaver Lake was also banded. The pair atCyclone Lake, a fairly consistent producer of loonchicks over the years, was present during the breed-ing season but did not attempt to nest. Single loonswere occasionally present at Murray Lake andWoods Lake, however these could be individualsforaging from Beaver or Spencer Lakes. A total of3 chicks in this area survived until July LoonDay.

Flathead River ForksLaura Holmquist, Wildlife Biologist, Flathead Na-tional ForestTwo chicks each hatched and survived onHalfmoon and Mud/Garnet Lakes up the NorthFork of the Flathead River. The Teepee Lake pairhad at least one nesting attempt that failed to pro-duce any chicks. Many people contributed to help-ing monitor the Flathead River Forks area this year.We are thankful to you all with special thanks toTerrance McClelland and Allie Byrd. Chick count:4.

Flathead Indian ReservationSubmitted by Whisper Camel-Means, CSKT Wild-life Management ProgramThe Confederated Salish and Kootenai WildlifeManagement staff continues to monitor lakes onthe Flathead Indian Reservation for Common loonpresence and nesting attempts. We are also morethoroughly surveying the south end of FlatheadLake. In previous years we have done the surveysalong the shore line, where accessible. We havechanged over to survey by boat so that more loca-tions are accessible. You may be aware that Flat-head Lake shore line is not very accessible to pub-lic access. We have had loons sighted at KickingHorse reservoir, Mission Reservoir, Jocko Lakes,and Flathead Lake. We have not seen nesting suc-cess at this time. We will continue to survey in2015.

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Libby/Troy AreaSubmitted by Mandy Rockwell & David Deavours

The Troy area experienced what seems to be an av-erage year for nesting attempts and chick surviv-al. Nesting occurred at our four regular nestinglakes: Alvord, Kilbrennan, Rene, and Slee.Alvord and Kilbrennan Lakes each hatched twochicks with both surviving to the July Loon Dayon Alvord Lake. One chick was lost on KilbrennanLake sometime in the last half of June. Rene andSlee Lakes each hatched a single chick and bothwere survivors through mid-July. Adults were alsonoted at Vinal, Hoskins, and Skinner Lakes but nonesting was attempted. Total chicks: 7. - MandyRockwell

Loon observations were few and far between on theeast-central portion of the Kootenai NF this year in-cluding Rainbow, Loon, Kessler, Howard, and Dou-ble N lakes. A single adult was spotted on the Dou-ble N lake mid-May, however no nesting occurredaccording to the private land owners. Spring snowsprecluded an early survey of Howard Lake, howeverby July a single adult was found by Forest person-nel. Unfortunately two single adults were the high-lights of the loon season for this portion of the Koo-tenai as Rainbow, Loon, and Kessler Lakes all wereall left lonely for loons in 2014.— David Deavours

Swan Lake Ranger District AreaWildlife Technician USFS: Jessica Curry

In the Swan Lake Ranger District area we were ableto identify nesting pairs on four lakes, Loon(Ferndale), Loon (Kraft Creek), Crystal, and Pierce.Also we observed two additional non-breeding pairson Lindberg and Van Lakes. The nest success in theSwan Lake Ranger District was 83%. The onlyknown chick mortality was reported on Loon Lake(Ferndale). The public reported two chicks hatched,but just days later only one was observed. It wassuspected that the chick was predated by a bald ea-gle. The pairs at Pierce and Crystal Lakes each hadone observed chick hatch. It is unknown if predationwas involved in these situations or if only one egghatched. As part of our management strategy, we aregoing to try placing nesting platforms on Van andLindberg Lakes where we know there are estab-lished territories. Van Lake is a popular fishing areawhich creates a lot of disturbance for nesting loons.If we can give them a platform and block off a sec-tion of the lake, the pair might have a better chance

2014 Area Loon Reports Continued…

Kalispell West…

predation or nest loss on Monroe Lake duringMemorial weekend. No nesting attempts weredetected on Horseshoe Lake TCL. The pair thathad attempted nesting the last three years onHorseshoe Lake did not occupy the territory afterMay 24; we later observed and received reports ofloon(s) showing up on nearby Crystal and LoonLakes. Next season, management efforts shouldfocus on monitoring the Horseshoe Lake pair onHorseshoe and other nearby unoccupied (by terri-torial loon pairs) lakes and on looking for citizensto help with loon monitoring. Additionally, float-ing signs on Monroe Lake should be consideredas the Monroe does get frequent anglers floatingdown from Ashley Creek Bridge upstream. To-tal: 13 chicks were counted on July Loon Day.

Murphy Lake AreaSummarized by Hailey Graf (loon ranger)Reported by Lynn Johnson

The Murphy Lake area hatched 6 chicks on 4lakes (Bull, Dickey Lake south, Lick, and Mur-phy Lake). The nesting pairs at Frank, Marl andMartin Lakes made nesting attempts, but hatchedno chicks. Significant observations include: pri-vate land is being developed adjacent to the nest-ing platform on Dickey North; Loon’s Echo his-toric nesting island was taken over by TrumpeterSwans – who may have attempted to nest, butnever pulled off cygnets (sightings have been re-ported to CFSK). Single loons were seen feedingon this lake. Bands (lack of) were confirmed on 8birds within the ML area. Daytime banding wasattempted at the summer meeting on MurphyLake but was unsuccessful. Total number ofchicks for this area: 6

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Show your support for loons and the MontanaLoon Society by purchasing the MLS sponsoredMontanalicense plateat a countycourthousenear you.

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2014 Area Loon Reports Continued…at successfully hatching chicks. At Lindberg Lakethe area where the breeding pair has historicallynested has fluctuating water levels. This could bewhy they are not nesting or nesting successfully.A platform would provide a stable location fornesting. Altogether this area had 5 chicks sur-vive until July Loon Day.

Tally Lake/Stillwater AreaLaura Holmquist, Wildlife Biologist, FlatheadNational ForestEight pair of loons nested in the Tally Lake/Stillwater Area in 2014 hatching nine chicks ofwhich only one did not survive. Chicks survivedon Blanchard, Lost Coon, Lower Stillwater,Skyles, and Spencer (2) Lakes. Loons attemptedto nest on Bootjack and Upper Stillwater Lakesbut either abandoned or failed. Jennifer Nelsonwas the loon ranger for the summer doing a greatjob observing nesting success, getting band recov-eries, as well as talking with the public at boatlaunches. Tally Lake/Stillwater tally: 6 chicks.

Total Montana Chicks in 2014The total number of chicks reported in thisnewsletter is 66. However, some chicks werecounted after the official July Loon Day Count, sothe official 2014 count is 60 chicks, which is stillthe highest number of chicks recorded since 1999when the CLWG began. ♦

Montana Loon Found Dead in Idaho

In July 2014, a loon banded in Montana as a chickon Upper Thompson Lake in 2006 was founddead on Bonner Lake in Idaho. Chris Hammondof MT FWP confirmed that a lead weight was inits gizzard, but stated that it could not be deter-mined with absolute certainty that the bird died oflead poisoning. Michelle Kneeland, a DVM withBiodiversity Research Institute in Maine per-formed the necropsy and felt she could say with

99.99% confidencethat the loon died oflead poisoning.Whether or not thisbird died of leadpoisoning, pleasesupport “Get theLead Out” and usenon-lead sinkersand weights. ♦

2014 MLS Partner of the Year

Kristi Dubois, MT FWP Region 2 Wildlife Biol-ogist, received MLS Partner of the Year for hermany years of working with and overseeingthe Blackfoot/Clearwater Loon Rangers (oftenusing funds from her own budget for the LoonRanger Program) and specifically for her workthis past 2014 summer season undertaking thedifficult task during the change from "wake" to"non-wake" status of Alva Lake in the ClearwaterRiver Drainage near Seeley Lake. Due to greatpublic information and outreach, a fabulous loonranger, Cory Reiniger, (fully supported and keptwell-informed by Kristi), and much needed sign-age, the change-over went fairly smoothly, andmuch easier than anyone thought. MLS PresidentLynn Kelly said, “Thank you, Kristi, for youryears of helping Montana’s loons.”

2014 MLS Volunteer of the Year :

Steve Gniadek of Columbia Falls received the2014 Volunteer of the Year for hiswork instigating, planning and organizing thenew East Glacier/Blackfeet Indian ReservationLoon Ranger/Coordinator position. Steve wasGlacier National Park's wildlife biologist for 20years, and now as a layperson has continued hiswork with common loon management east ofGlacier National Park and the Blackfeet IndianReservation by developing this important posi-tion. MLS President Lynn Kelly said, “I am sothrilled about this loon ranger. This area has beena black hole for loons in Montana for some time.Steve’s help was invaluable to understanding howour birds are doing in this important area.”♦

2014 MLS Volunteerof the Year, SteveGniadek, receivingVolunteer of the YearAward from MLSPresident, Lynn Kelly

2014 MLS Partner ofthe Year, Kristi Du-bois, receiving Partnerof the Year Awardfrom MLS President,Lynn Kelly

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

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LOONS (and Society) IN THE NEWS

2014 North American Loon SymposiumBy Christie Ferruzzi, Montana Loon Society (MLS)Vice-President

With gracious thanks to the MLS, Lynn Kelly,MLS President, Jessica Curry, Loon Ranger and Iattended the N.A. Loon Symposium in October, atthe Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, North-land College. It is located in Ashland, Wisconsinon the south shore of Lake Superior. The Biodiver-sity Research Institute (BRI) of Maine had a goodshow of presenters and long-time loon researchpioneer, Dr. Judyth McIntyre summarized her earlywork. Premier loon researchers, biologists andmanagers provided scientific presentations on:

Threats and concerns affecting common loonsthat included mercury and lead toxicology, Polycy-clic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) effects of the2011BP Gulf Oil Spill, food web contaminants(PBDEs, PCFs, PCBs, DDT, chlordane) in NewHampshire, Great Lakes botulism and malaria par-asites.Current research and trends ranged from geneticanalysis, migration patterns, territory settlement,vocal signals, yodel changes when males changeterritories (if dissimilar to previous residents, yo-dels change very little; if similar, yodels changemore), health assessment of loons and a BRI pilotstudy of translocation, and the captive rearing andrelease of common loon chicks in Minnesota.Information about loons and loon habitat suchas the importance of post mortem examinations,rehabilitation of common loons; restoration ofcommon loon populations across North America;use of trail cameras in monitoring nests; yellow-billed loon biology and oil/gas development inAlaska Arctic; red- throated loon Arctic breeding,migration and mid-Atlantic wintering.Citizen Science Networking group, with successin Michigan has goals to: 1. Improve public edu-cation, i.e., lead toxicity of fishing tackle; 2. Set upa centralized, loon information website and utilizesocial media; 3. Establish a North American LoonWorking Group; 4. Achieve national continuity inloon data collection/ database.

For more in-depth information on the presenta-tions, visit www.northland.edu.

Check out aloon trunk nearyou.Great for class-rooms or home-school!

BOARD MEMBER HIGHLIGHTMLS Region 2 BoardMember: Mark RubyAfter serving as aLoon Ranger while astudent at Universityof Montana, Mark Ru-by became a MLSmember in 2005 and aBoard Member in2010. He has worked

for the U.S. Forest Service on the Flathead Na-tional Forest for 6 years. Today he serves as theWildlife Biologist for Swan Lake Ranger District.He lives in Kalispell and along with volunteeringfor MLS, he volunteers for the MT Chapter of theWildlife Society and for MT Fish, Wildlife &Parks. Mark grew up in Kalispell and has watchedand enjoyed loons for the past 10 years. His favor-ite thing about loons is the speed at which theycan fly (70 mph!). He said, “I joined the Societybecause the organization is vital to the monitoringand conservation of Montana’s common loons.”Thank you, Mark, for your many years of ser-vice.♦

MLS Educational Loon Trunks Available InFour Places Around the State

Montana Natural History Center120 Hickory Street, Missoula, MT 59801(406) 327-0405, info@TheNatureCenter.org

Tally Lake Ranger Station650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901(406) 758-3544 ajacobs@fs.fed.us

Confederated Salish and Kootenai TribesNatural Resource Department301 Main St., Polson, MT 59860(406) 883-2888, germainew@cskt.org

Murphy Lake Ranger Station12797 U.S. Hwy 93 S, Fortine, MT 59918(406) 882-8345 lmjohnson@fs.fed.us

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2014 Montana Loon Society AnnualBoard Meeting

The 2014 Montana Loon Society Board of Di-rectors meeting was held Sunday, Sept. 28 at theBigfork Ranger Station. Seven of nine boardmembers were present along with 2 guest speak-ers, Jami Belt of Glacier National Park and GaryWolfe, Executive Director of Vital Ground. TheBoard voted to support another year of the Black-feet Indian Reservation Loon Ranger, to supportVital Ground in purchasing land on Alvord Lakenear Troy for a community forest, and to sendtwo representatives to the October 2014LoonWatch Symposium at the Sigurd OlsonEnvironmental Institute at Northland College inAshland, WI. ♦

2014 Montana Loon Society AnnualMembership Meeting

The 2014 MLS Membership Meeting was heldon Sunday, September 28 at the Bigfork RangerStation. Twelve people were present. Election ofOfficers included Vice-president, Christie Ferruz-zi, and Secretary Donna Love (both 2 year posi-tions) and Board Members from Region 6(Libby/Troy) and Region 3 (Kootenia/Tobacco/Stillwater). Paul Rumelhart was voted in as thenew Board member for Region 6. Region 3 re-mained vacant at the time of the meeting, butKristina Kindberg was voted in, in November forRegion 3. Thank you, Paul and Kris, for your ser-vice. ♦

Montana Common LoonWorking Group (CLWG)

Spring 2015 Update

By Amy Jacobs and Chris ForristalThe MT CLWG held their 2014 summer meetingat Murphy Lake Ranger Station near Fortine onJuly 23-24, and their winter meeting at the Mon-tana Department of Natural Resources Land Of-fice in Kalispell on January 13, 2015.

At the January meeting, needs for the upcom-ing summer were discussed and Biodiversity Re-search Institute’s efforts in Montana were high-lighted. Jess Curry, Christie Ferruzzi, and AllieByrd shared interesting material from the NorthAmerican Loon Symposium they attended in Oc-tober. (For more information see page 7 of thisnewsletter.)

The CLWG would also like to remind MLSmembers that checking the Nongame WildlifeBox on your taxes will provide funding for non-hunted wildlife like loons.

Plum Creek Timber Company is once againproviding reward money for the Loon Band Ob-servation Contest. Every year since 2011, PlumCreek’s $500 donation substantially increased theband return data on common loons in northwestMontana. Band return rates have increased sub-stantially from 62% to as high as 84%. For moreinformation on the Contest see pages 9 and 10 ofthis newsletter.

This years' Loon Ranger Training will be Sat-urday, May 2, at the Seeley Lake Ranger Stationof the Lolo National Forest. Anyone interested inloon management on your favorite lake is invitedto come at 9:30 AM. RSVP to Chris Hammond(chammond@mt.gov, 406-751-4582). Loads ofvaluable information and tools for conservingMontana’s loons is online at http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/commonLoon.

The summer CLWG meeting will be heldWednesday and Thursday, July 22 & 23, at AmyJacobs’ place west of Whitefish. For directionscontact Amy (phone number and email providedat end of this report).

2015 Spring Loon Survey date is May 16 andthe Summer Loon Survey date is July 18 (or asclose to those Saturdays as possible.) To helpsurvey lakes please contact Montana CLWG Co-Chairs:Amy Jacobs, 406-758-3544, ajacobs@fs.fed.usChris Forristal, 406-751-2259, cforristal@mt.gov

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The Non-Game Check-off found at the end ofeach year’s tax form supports loons, too, so besure to donate part of your tax return to the Non-Game Check-off.

2014 MLSBoardMemberslisten topresenta-tion byGaryWolfe ofVitalGround.

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REWARD

For observations of MONTANA’sbanded & unbanded loons!

The Montana Loon Society is offering cash prizes for the greatest number of 2015observations of unique banded loons or confirmed unbanded breeding loons!

One $200 award will go for the most observations of banded and unbanded breeding loons reportedby May 31, another $200 award will go for the most observations (cumulatively) reported by July 20,and one $100 award will be decided by a random drawing from all individuals who submitted at leastone observation. Federal and State government employees are not eligible for the cash reward ifthey observe loons as part of their job. Send band observations to Chris Hammond of Montana Fish,Wildlife and Parks (chammond@mt.gov) before these dates. The most useful band reports are theones that come in to Chris as soon as possible, so send them in as you see them, even if you arenot 100% sure of your observation. Qualified observations will be determined and counted solely byChris. See the reverse side for information about how to observe and report loon bands. Winners willbe announced at the summer meeting of the Montana Common Loon Working Group on July 22th-July 23th.

This contest is generously funded by Plum Creek Timber Company.Loons are very sensitive. Please enjoy them at a distance.

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How to Read a Common Loon Band in Montana

To determine population characteristics of common loons and better understand their behavior, weneed everyone to look for color band combinations beginning as soon as ice out this year on bothbreeding and foraging lakes. During the early part of the season, many pairs will tolerate visits byoffspring or other loons. This is one of our best chances of seeing and documenting the youngbirds we banded in previous years return to Montana.

If you spot common loons this spring, summer, or fall, and have a spotting scope handy, take a fewminutes to check them for the presence of color leg band combinations. You can usually see aband, if one is present, within 10 minutes, but it could take up to an hour. If you see a band andyour scope is not adequate or your time is limited, report this to Chris Hammond immediately. Hecan possibly provide a high power quality scope or send someone out to that lake to get the bandcombinations.

When you observe loons, you may catch them raising a leg out of the water to stretch or scratch.This is most common when a loon is loafing or preening.

If the loon is banded, each leg will have a band; sometimes two oneach. Some bands have stripes or dots. For the right and left leg, recordthe color of the bands along with whether any stripe or dot is present onthe band, and if so the color of the stripe or dot. Be sure to figure outcorrectly which color band is closest to the body and which is closest tothe foot (not always intuitive when the bird is facing you and movingaround).

Tidbits to help with accurate band recording:

Band colors: blue, red, white, orange, yellow, green, silver, pink

Silver on right leg means banded as an adult.

Silver on left leg means banded as juvenile.

Blue, green, and red bands have a white base, so etched markings on those bands show aswhite. Orange, white, and yellow bands have a black base so etched markings on those bandsshow as black.

Bands are always recorded in order as: 1. Left leg closest to body, 2. Left leg closest to foot, 3.Right leg closest to body, 4. Right leg closest to foot. This is what the band data part of the loonobservation form looks like:

Left Leg (closest to body) (closest to foot) Right Leg (closest to body) (closest to foot)(LL) _________ / __________ (RL) _________ / _________

Contact Chris Hammond ASAP with all new banded loon sightings, even if you couldn’t read thebands -- chammond@mt.gov, 406-751-4582.

For details about observing loons and their bands, see Appendix C of the Montana Loon Plan -http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/See Appendix D of the plan for background on banding loons in Montana.

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Mark Your 2015 Calendar May 2 – Loon Ranger Training at Seeley Lake

Ranger Station, Seeley Lake, MT May 9— Forestry EXPO in Columbia Falls May 16— Spring Loon Day Count/Survey June 5-7—MT Audubon Society—Helena July 18– Summer Loon Day Count/Survey July 22-23– CLWG Summer Meeting near

Whitefish. September —MLS Annual Board and Mem-

bership Meetings, Date and Place Pending

Help Montana’s Loons

Sign up for a membership today.

__Single Loon (Individual)… $15.00__Breeding Pair (Family) …...$25.00__Loon Chick (Student).…….$10.00__Territorial Pair (Sustaining

Member)………………...$150.00__Raft of Loons (Organization)……………………………...$300.00__Loon Lake (Life Time Member)……………………………...$800.00

Name: _______________________Address:___________________________________________________City:_________________________State:_____________Zip:_________

(Memberships are Tax-Deductible)

Mail this form and payment to:

Montana Loon SocietyP.O. Box 1131

Seeley Lake, MT 59868

www.montanaloons.org

montanaloons@blackfoot.net

Web Sites of Interest Montana Loon Society

www.montanaloons.org Montana Loon Society on Facebook

www.facebook.com (Search for “MontanaLoon Society”).

ABC Species Profile by Lynn Kellyhttp://www.montanaloons.org/ABC%

20loon%20article.pdf MT FWP Common Loon Conservation

Plan http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/commonLoon/

MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks CommonLoon Field Guidehttp://fieldguide.mt.gov/

detail_ABNBA01030.aspx Glacier Park Citizens Science Loon Count

http://www.nps.gov/glac/naturescience/ccrlc-citizen-science_loons.htm

Loons and Lead Poisoninghttp://www.tufts.edu/vet/loons/

Flathead Watershed Source Book—Loonshttp://www.flatheadwatershed.org/docs/

wpPDF/Popout_Jacobs.pdf Montana Outdoors: Crazy About Loons

http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2011/loons.htm

Officers

President Lynn Kelly 406.883.5797

Vice President Christie Ferruzzi 406.882.4856

Secretary Donna Love 406.677.3767

Treasurer Don Skaar 406.442.3254

Blackfoot/Clearwater

George Leighton 406.251.3925

Swan River Val-ley

Mark Ruby mdruby@fs.fed.us

Kootenai/Tobacco/Stillwater

Kristina Kind-berg

406.889/5077

Thompson/WestKalispell

Tony Dawson 406.253.6111

Glacier Park Steve Gniadek 406.892.7406

Libby/Troy Paul Rumelhart pwr@frontiernet.net

Board of Directors

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Montana Loon SocietyP.O. Box 1131Seeley Lake, MT 59868406.677.3767montanaloons@blackfoot.netwww.montanaloons.org

To:

The Montana Loon Society’sPurpose is to:

Monitor common loons in Montana

Increase public knowledge about Mon-tana’s loons

Protect and enhance critical loonhabitat

Identify management or research needsand obtain funds for same

Facilitate cooperation between agen-cies, lakeshore owners and the generalpublic to accomplish these goals

Inside This 2015 Newsletter

2014 Rogers Lake Loon Rescue, Page 1

President’s Corner, Page 2

Area Loon Reports, Pages 3-6

Montana Loon Found Dead in Idaho, Page 6

Awards and Recognition, Page 6

Loons (and Society) In The News, Page 7

Board Member Highlight, Page 7

Educational Loon Trunk, Page 7

CLWG 2015 Spring Update, Page 8

Board and Membership Meeting Reports, Page 8

Leg Band Sighting Contest/Rules/Info, Pages 9-10

Web Sites of Interest, Page 11

MLS Board of Directors Information, Page 11

Mark Your Calendar, Page 11

Become a Member, Page 11

TO READ THIS NEWSLETTER ONLINE go towww.montanaloons.org and click on “Newsletters.”