Hello all, we were alerted to this thread by one of our volunteers on the lake and wanted to take the chance to respond. We appreciate all of the thoughtful debate going on here and are glad for the chance to weigh in and answer questions!
First, SAMIAM, we're sorry to hear that you sent us an email that went unanswered! We have searched our email account (assuming it was sent to
info@loon.org?) but have not been able to locate it. During this time of summer, when the number of emails we receive is quite high, individual emails can sometimes slip through the cracks. We always want to answer ones like this one, which express concerns, and would like to find out how yours went unanswered. If you could send us another email, from the same account, that would help us troubleshoot why we can't seem to find it (in terms of if it got caught in a spam filter, etc.).
We have only banded two loon families on Winnipesaukee this summer, and both are still present on the lake and have the same number of chicks that they did on the night of banding. Based on the circumstances you describe in your initial post, it sounds like you may live on the 'Black Island' territory, where we banded on the night of 7/10. I am happy to report that both Black Island chicks are still around! They were brooding close to Black Island at least through 7/15, when they were last seen in that particular spot. Since then, they have been brooding the chicks a bit further north, almost closer to Langdon Cove. Brooding areas can sometimes change year to year (as another user above noted) due to things like food availability, human activity level, etc.
Regarding all of the questions surrounding the practice of loon banding: There are a number of reasons why we band loons. First, banding allows us to learn more about important life-history information about the species as a whole. Things like: how long do loons live, at what age do they first reproduce, how many chicks does the average loon produce over the course of its lifetime? All of these things would not be possible to determine without being able to identify individual loons. And these life history characteristics are important for prioritizing conservation efforts. As an example, because we know that loons are a long-lived species with a delayed age of reproduction (not breeding until 6 years old, on average) and low annual reproductive output, we know that ensuring adult loon survival is key to sustaining and growing our loon population. This has helped us to prioritize dealing with threats to adult loon survival, such as lead poisoning, as a major part of our program.
Banding healthy loons also helps us improve our ability to evaluate and treat rescued loons. Each time we band loons, we take a small blood sample from the adults. We also weigh the adults and the chick(s). We analyze the blood samples for things like packed cell volume, lead level, and total dissolved solids, all measures that can be used to evaluate the health of a loon. In taking samples from healthy loons, we establish 'normal' values for each of these parameters. These normal values can then be compared with those from loons that we rescue, allowing us to assess the condition that rescued loons are in (how far below a healthy weight are they? How does their packed cell volume or total solids compare with that of a healthy bird?). This allows us to evaluate the condition of rescued loons, determine whether rehabilitation is necessary, and develop a treatment plan.
Additionally, resights and recoveries of banded loons on the ocean help us to determine where our loons go during the winter. This helps us gain a better understanding of potential threats that they may face when not on our lakes.
Finally, samples from banded loons are sent to collaborators to contribute to several research projects that help the species overall. One project that NH loon samples are being used for is a collaboration to study the emergence of malaria infection in common loons. Another collaboration involves trying to find a test that can accurately diagnose aspergillosis (a fungal respiratory disease) in common loons. Loons are very prone to aspergillosis infection when in captivity, and there is not yet a test that diagnoses it accurately. Sending blood samples to each of these collaborators helps bolster these studies, both of which are going to be very important for loons as a species.
We have an article on loon banding that we wrote up for our 2021 Summer Newsletter—you can find that here for more information:
https://loon.org/wp-content/uploads/...1-mmpweb-1.pdf
We also have a talk given by our collaborator on the malaria research aspect. That can be found here:
https://youtu.be/aOu6nlNMS5E
We are glad to answer any follow-up questions that anyone may have.