[Cindido]

Received from the Loon Preservation Committee:


Greetings!

January 2016 might go down in the books as the busiest month for live loon winter rescues in LPC's 40-year history. All told, LPC Senior Biologist John Cooley rescued 7 loons trapped in the ice--one on Broad Bay in Freedom, one on Highland Lake in Stoddard, and five on Lake Sunapee near Newbury, NH.

The trend continued into February with one more iced-in loon rescued from Paugus Bay on February 1. Along with two crash landing cases that came in to New Hampshire rehabilitators in January, we've already seen 10 rescues in 2016.

The successful capture on Paugus Bay was overshadowed by the fact that this was another lead-poisoned loon. Wildlife rehabilitators at Avian Haven used chelation therapy to absorb the lead from its bloodstream. A week after its rescue, the blood lead level was down to 2.5 ug/dl and the loon was diving well, preening, eating, and its overall fitness appeared to be strong, so it was released on February 9 in Penobscot Bay where two other loons were visible from shore!