Dave Adams watches a loon on Little Clear Pond during an annual New York Loon Census. The census this year is Saturday. (Provided photo — Nina Schoch)

SARANAC LAKE — Volunteers from around the state will submit their loon counts from New York lakes large and small on Saturday, giving researchers a look at the stats of the state’s loon population.

The 2024 New York Annual Loon Census will be held by the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

ACLC Research Biologist Griffin Archambault said Wednesday that, when he last checked, they had nearly 400 volunteers already signed up to record loon population data at several hundred lakes around the Adirondacks.

“We’re super excited about it,” he said.

The current trend in the state’s loon population, according to past census data, shows rising numbers of adult loons inhabiting lakes and fewer lakes with no loons observed, but a declining number of lakes with both adults and chicks inhabiting them. Archambault said this suggests that while the adult population is growing, reproductive success is going down, which makes it likely that lakes are reaching their loon carrying capacity.

He added that he can’t be completely sure about this theory, however.

“The question is, ‘is there actually more loons on lakes, or is (it) that people are becoming more knowledgeable about where the loons are on the lakes,'” he said.

Volunteers sometimes choose to go to a lake where they’re more likely to have a loon sighting than a lake where they suspect they aren’t going to find any loons. That’s a major reason why they need a lot of volunteers to cover as many lakes as possible, providing them the most accurate data.

The loon census began in 2001, which Archambault said “has allowed (them) to actually look at those trends and see what might actually be happening in the population.”

Archambault said some of the lakes with the most loons include Lake George, Raquette Lake, Long Lake, Chazy Lake, Chateaugay Lake and “whatever big lake you can find in the Adirondacks.”

Loons are territorial and won’t live in a body of water that doesn’t provide them with adequate space. That is why a person won’t find as many of them in a smaller lake, if any at all.

Archambaut said the census is valuable to the ACLC’s work.

“The loon census is really important for us because … we have a pretty limited staff capacity, just being a small non-profit. … The census is amazing because it gives us a snapshot of the loon population at a much, much bigger scale — across the park, across hundreds of lakes,” he said.

He added that most loon pairs have reproduced by the time of the census each year, which gives them an idea of how much reproductive success the population might be having and what the survival rates of chicks might be.

At this time of year, loons are less likely to have as many active nests, according to Archambault.

“We want to (give) a ginormous thank you to all the census observers, because this literally would not be possible if we didn’t have all these people going out to do it,” Archambault said.

Archambault has been working with the ACLC since 2023. He is taking over the job of running the census this year. Among other responsibilities, he also manages research programs that sample loon tissues, feathers, blood and eggs to test for mercury content to assess how reproductive success is impacted by mercury levels. The program visits more than 100 lakes on a weekly basis during the summer. They’ve recently added PFAS and lead testing research as well, but they only have two years of data so far.

Census volunteers talk about their experience

Jen Grisi of Saranac Lake said Tuesday that she was looking forward to doing the census this year. she couldn’t remember exactly how many years she has done it and she hasn’t always been able to get out there every year, but she thinks her first time may have been up to 20 years ago. Whenever she hasn’t been able to do the census, she finds someone to take care of the area she covers for her. She started out doing the census on Bear Pond, but has since switched to McKenzie Pond.

Grisi’s loon census strategy is to get up early in the morning for a head start on the drive and her ensuing paddle. She brings binoculars and a thermos of coffee and makes sure to keep her distance as she observes the loons, so as not to disturb them.

“I scope out where they are — I know where they nest — and I just sort of find them first, because they’re always there,” she said.

The loons aren’t always accompanied by chicks, as far as she can see. She said volunteers aren’t supposed to count any loons that just “fly in and out.” I has to be clear that the loons are making that particular lake their home.

When the adult loons are out of the nest, she will creep up to check that there aren’t any more loon chicks or eggs hidden inside.

Sometimes, if she feels like it, she might stay out after she’s completed her count to paddle around a bit just for fun.

Grisi first got interested in the loon census because of her mother, who was an active part of a loon preservation group in New Hampshire, where Grisi grew up.

When she moved here, Grisi said she spent a lot of her time paddling around the lakes, which is a passtime well suited to loon observation. She heard about the census through a friend and started volunteering.

She said she usually finds a couple of loons every year on McKenzie Pond.

Brandon Devito of Saranac Lake has been covering the census at Little Long Pond for two years. He had the census date wrong on his calendar, causing him to go out and take data last Saturday. He said he observed two adults and two chicks, which is the same as last year. He’ll go back out this Saturday for the actual census, which he said he is happy to do.

Devito’s strategy is to be quiet and wait until he hears a loon. Then he uses his binoculars to look for them once he pinpoints the direction of the sound. He said it’s hard to spot chicks without binoculars because they’re brown and fuzzy, blending in with a lot of their background.

Barbara Franklin of Saranac Lake is also an experienced loon census-taker. For at least 15 years she has been organizing a group of volunteers, the “Loon Rangers,” who split up and cover observations for different sections of Upper Saranac Lake.

She hopes they’ll see at least “a decent number” of loons and their chicks on census day.

Franklin said that the chick population is a key area of interest in loon observations. Lower numbers are always concerning, but she said there are “ups and downs.” High water can cause loon chicks to be lost when their nests are flooded, which Franklin has seen happen on Upper Saranac Lake.

Franklin loves to live on the lake and be able to listen to the loon’s calls and see them out there.

“The chicks are wonderful to watch as they grow up. They are born and learn to fish and sit on logs and their parents’ backs,” she said. “Everything you ever saw in any kind of movie, or heard, is right in our backyard.”

Franklin said people should make sure to stay away from the loons when they see them; watch from a distance. Unlike ducks, which are more easy-going, loons might be frightened to the point of abandoning their chicks when they feel like they are being harassed or intruded upon.

For Frankin, the loon census is key to humans’ understanding of not only loons, but of the whole Adirondack ecosystem.

“Loons are a reflection of the health of the lake. … We recognize the importance of protecting them and keeping an eye on warning signals,” she said.

She went on to compare loons to the canaries that would be lowered into coal mines to make sure the air was breathable.

“(Loons) absolutely tell us early on the Adirondacks are being stressed and distressed,” she said. “They’re reporting about water conditions, the amount of fish in the water, even the air, because what drops into the lake ultimately hurts them and the fish.”