Happy Thanksgiving – Piper’s Summer
2025, No. 14 — November 27th
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Happy Thanksgiving
******** Piper’s Summer |
Time to look back on our female loon’s 19th summer on Pleasant Lake. She was joined again by her mate from last season. They produced two eggs, but only one survived hatching.
But what an adventurous youngster Piper turned out to be!
From the first drop of water she received (below), she has been a treat to watch.
With both parents working full time, Piper will be our female’s 23rd chick to have fledged. Our male (below) has played a major role in helping feed and protect Piper and defend the family territory.
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Papa’s New Tags
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During the evening of June 23rd, a crew from LPC was able to capture and band Papa. The next morning (below), he was with Piper, showing us his new “name”.
Following the fireworks the night of June 29th, we did not see him with Piper for about a week. Mama (below) took over Piper duties.
With Papa’s return, Piper was again getting plenty of food!
The photo below can be interpreted in two ways. Mama loon is keeping track of a bird flying by while Piper is eating, or she is wondering if bringing fish to the little one will ever end!?
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Defending their Territory
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The increasing population of loons in New Hampshire has resulted in more competition for places to breed. The past summer was a busy one for our pair defending their territory at the northwest end of the lake. Below is one of many encounters we saw and heard.
Many involved an intense circling dance and displaying raised head feathers.
Others ended with wing-rowing escapes by the intruder. Descriptions of loon aggressive encounters can be found on the Loon Protective Committee website.
During many encounters, Piper was left alone on or close to shore. She was very good at staying quiet during those times. Thanks to several of you who alerted us and kept an eye on her. She is especially vulnerable at those times and very hard to see from a fast-moving boat.
With the return of one or both parents, it was back to the job of eating whatever was brought.
We are especially excited to see the fish (Yellow Perch fingerling) being given to Piper above. Yellow perch are an important part of loon diets, and their population has been down for several years following repeated lake lowerings to fix the dam.
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Piper’s Transition
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Within a month of hatching, Piper is already imitating the wing flapping movements loons use to shake and settle their feathers.
What an amazing process of changing size, shape, and behavior a growing loon goes through. Below she is half way through her molt into juvenile plumage.
She was soon diving for short periods and later following her parents as they searched below the surface for food. By late September (below), she had nearly completed molting into her juvenile plumage and was exercising an impressive pair of wings.
Every year, we become more and more impressed with this transition and the amount of effort the parents put into helping this happen.
Even though she was capable of catching fish by herself, Piper continually urged her parents to go get more for her. As of early November, she was pretty much on her own and will somehow figure out when to leave for the ocean and how to get there.
It took about 4 months for Piper to reach her fledgling size. You can see the transition in the photos below. Generally, the bigger and healthier birds are at fledgling; the greater the chance they will survive their first and most critical year alone. We feel Piper is well on her way and only regret we could not band her so we could actually know her sex and track her future.
Thanks for your support and interest in our exploration of the nature of Pleasant Lake and its watershed. With luck and your continued help in protecting our lake, our pair will be back to provide us with another loon adventure.
Bye for now, see you in May … Jen and Jon
Text and Photographs by Jen Esten and Jon Waage
