AN T
FALL ASSOCIATION MEETING
Saturday September 5, 2026 9 a.m.
at Crossroads Christian Church
Loon Family Squabbles
Mother Nature works in strange ways, and none are stranger than those pictured in the videos below. LLPOA member Brad Willert filmed the videos the week of July 19th and they are of the larger of the two chicks hatched on Cadotte this spring attacking the smaller, apparently trying to drive it away or perhaps kill it. The third shows the victim hiding under a dock. Our Loon Ranger, Jim Bjork, reported seeing the 2 chicks alive on the 21st of July after the videos were taken. DNR folks say that this type of behavior is not frequent but does happen apparently reflecting competition for food and territory. A big LLPOA Thanks to Brad for the video. May it also serve as a reminder to all boaters to give the loons plenty of space as they have their issues as we all do.
Post Mortem 07/23/2022 It appears that the smaller of the two of the loons has disappeared.
Saga of a Loon
This is a report of several Loon Lakers trying to save a struggling loon on Loon Lake.
Late in the afternoon, on July 27th, Paul Martinez noticed a large loon struggling to come ashore in front of his home on the north bay. He said it was acting strangely, was not afraid of Paul and finally returned to the water. He called me wondering how to reach our Loon Ranger, Jim Bjork. I gave him Jim’s numbers. Apparently the loon moved 4 lots to the north and came ashore again at Carlson’s and was discovered in their driveway, some 300 feet from the lake, by Gina Carlson and then Don Bistodeau. Realizing it was ill or injured, Don captured it, covered it with a pillow case and held it to prevent it doing further injury to itself. Gina tried to reach several numbers for advice and/or assistance. It being after 4:30 on a Thursday afternoon no one answered. Jim Bjork, came directly after he was reached and then decided he would take it overnight and try to locate someone who could offer assistance on Friday morning. After many phone calls the next morning, Jim located a wildlife rehab center in Duluth, Wildwoods Rehabilitation Center, 218-491-3604, who agreed to see the loon if Jim would bring it to them. Jim and Mary Ann loaded the loon into their LOONMOBILE and immediately drove to Duluth. Upon examination and blood tests, they determined that the loon had severe lead poisoning and probably could not be treated/saved. However they wanted to do another test and said they would let Jim and Mary Ann know of the results in the morning. It was with heavy hearts that they returned to Loon Lake that afternoon. However the Duluth center then decided to send the loon to its affiliate, Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville, Mn, 651-486-9453 for further examination. When Jim called in the next day he was told that the diagnosis was changed from lead poisoning to severe malnutrition, dehydration and a broken leg. They had some hopes that the loon might make it and told Jim it had eaten its first minnow since they had it. The plan was to nurse it back to health hoping it would be able to be returned to the wild in time to fly south and if not they would keep it and release it in the spring.
Several days later Jim got the call indicating that the loon had not made it and died on August 2nd.
These centers are nonprofit entities, funded solely by donations and serve thousands of wildlife each year, the Roseville one doing over 12,000 last year. I believe they are monitored by the states DNR.
Many thanks to all involved in this effort to protect and preserve one of our resident loons and be it a reminder of the fragility of life of Gods creatures!