Rescuing a Lost Baby Loon in Squam Lake

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Rescued baby loon.

By LIZ BRENNEN of Sandwich

While passing Mooney Island out on Squam Lake yesterday around 4 p.m., we came super close to hitting a small black thing in the water, just managing to dodge it at the last second.

We turned around to see what it was and saw that it was a baby loon chick all alone in a super busy area where boats were going full speed. We hung out watching the baby from a distance for about 10 minutes to see if it was going to be ok, but it wasn’t really going anywhere, and we didn’t think it was normal for a baby to be all alone in the middle of the lake without any signs of its parents (it’s not!).

So we decided to call the local Fish & Game and then was forwarded to Tiffany from the Loon Preservation Committee.

While talking to her, we watched a boat go full speed right at the baby until we waved our hands directing them away, thank god!!! She gave us permission to pick the chick up so it wasn’t in harms way until she could meet us, also noting that this wouldn’t affect the baby reuniting with its family.

As I tried to lean over to pick him up, I accidentally fell head first into the water a few feet away from the chick, and then I watched it swim under water right towards me, landing onto my chest! I scooped the chick up and handed it to (husband) Kaleb Phelps while I got back onto the boat.

Then all of a sudden a few minutes later, we heard a loon call and saw a big adult loon coming our way, assuming it could be the mom. Still on the phone with Tiffany, we discussed putting the baby back in the water to see if it was possible that they would reunite, so we did, and we watched the adult get closer and closer until we saw it go right up to the baby.

We didn’t want to intervene more than we already had if that was the mom looking for it.

But without any warning, the adult grabbed the baby in its mouth, started to toss it in the air and was acting aggressive, flapping its wings, grabbing the baby in its mouth again, looking like it was trying to kill the loon chick.

It was a VERY scary and difficult thing to witness while not completely understanding if this was its mom or not, which we quickly realized it wasn’t. While we were describing how this was happening to Tiffany, she stated that this wasn’t normal behavior and told us to intervene as soon as possible.

We sped our boat right up to them barely scaring the adult away, and we noticed that the poor baby loon was in distress, so we scooped him up and tucked him into a towel while we waited for Tiffany to arrive about an hour later.

Overall, the loon chick was doing ok, but it was extremely tired and began snuggling into my hands, took a few naps, and calmly sat there after showing signs of exhaustion. At this point, we assumed the baby was a long way from home.

When Tiffany arrived, she said that some babies had recently hatched on Perch Island, and that with all of the big waves and boat traffic this weekend, the baby may have drifted across the lake (see map below).

She planned to venture over to see if that’s where the baby had come from, and if not, another option was taking him to a Loon Rehabilitation Center in Fryeburg. Perch Island was a good ways away from Mooney Island but it made sense that the baby could have drifted all that way. We said our goodbyes and hoped for the best.

A few hours later around 7 p.m., we got GOOD NEWS…Tiffany called to let us know that she was finally able to locate its family off of Perch Island and after awhile of watching and waiting, the loon chick was reunited with its family!!! The last she saw, the baby was on its mom’s back, safe and sound!!! THE BEST ENDING!!!

We know sometimes you should let nature take its course, but we were definitely in the right place at the right time and are so happy to have saved this baby loon chicks life! Don’t be afraid to call Fish & Game or local law enforcement if something doesn’t look right, and always make sure to stay alert while out on the lake, you never know what you’ll come across.