When a loon check recently became stranded below a dam in Pushaw Lake in Hudson recently, a committed group of locals — all staunch conservationists — jumped into action to save it.
Lou and Dorli Cloutier live at the lake during the summer. On July 17, they were out on one of their routine boat trips looking for loons and invasive aquatic plants when they came upon a concerning situation near the dam on the outlet at Pushaw Stream.
“There was an adult loon frantically calling there,” said Pushaw resident Rich Dressler of Glenburn.
He and his wife Marian are friends of the Cloutiers and all are members of the Greater Pushaw Lake Association, which works to protect and improve the waters for those who live and recreate there.
Normally, there would be a sizable drop at the dam. But the unusually wet spring and summer meant the water from the outlet was nearly to the top of the dam, which is more than four feet high. Water from the lake was spilling over the top.
The Cloutiers looked around and discovered the cause of the loon’s frantic behavior.
“They found there was a chick that had gone over the dam somehow and was trying to swim against the current and it couldn’t get up over the dam and the adult was above the dam, calling like crazy,” Dressler said.
The Dresslers arrived on the scene to see how they could help and the group enlisted the help of friends Dianne Kopec and Mike Beliveau, who live near the outlet and have a canoe.
Beliveau and Kopec put in below the dam and attempted to capture the loon chick using a net, but initially they were unsuccessful.
“It was still in flight mode, running away from anything that looked like danger,” Dressler said. “It started diving, too, which made it impossible to get in a net.”
The canoeists backed off, fearing that the rescue efforts might stress the young loon.
In the meantime, another adult loon approached from downstream and appeared to be trying to help the chick make its way over the dam, but to no avail. The adult bird then joined the other adult that was waiting in the lake.
The chick eventually made its way downstream to some calmer water. From above, the Cloutiers observed the bird as it climbed up onto a rock for a rest.
Kopec and Beliveau carefully paddled toward the chick in the hope of saving it. They finally coaxed it into the net. Then they made their way back toward the lake, where Kopec got out of the canoe to help move it over the dam before climbing back in.
The duo then paddled their canoe toward the two adult loons.
“The chick started making some sounds and they let the chick go and within a few minutes it had reunited with the adults,” Dressler said.
If the loon chick had remained stranded it might not have survived while trying to negotiate predators in the area including bald eagles and Northern pike.
“Dianne and Mike did a lot of the work, but we were really pleased that we were able to get it out of that situation,” Dressler said.
They’ve since been checking in on the birds and the chick appears to be doing well. Dressler estimated that the loon was approximately three weeks old at the time it was discovered.
“It’s been doing fine for the first several days,” Dressler said. “It did a lot of riding on the back of one of the adults. It was just feeding and resting.”
All involved were pleased not only to have helped the loon chick, but to have seen the two adults. On July 15, the date of Maine Audubon’s Annual Loon Count, volunteers had seen only a single chick at the south end of Pushaw Lake.
Dressler, who has been participating in the loon count for more than 15 years, is convinced that none of the birds they saw on July 17 had been recorded as part of the official count.
He said it’s believed that high water conditions at the lake during the early summer may have flooded many loon nests, reducing this year’s breeding success.
That makes the group’s recent efforts to save the loon chick even more important.