maine's loon productivity project

Image by Maine Audubon

2025 news

Welcome back to the third season of  Look Out For Loons (LOFL), a program of the  Maine Loon Restoration Project that engages volunteers in ways to reach out to community members about ways to reduce disturbance, and increase productivity, of Maine's loon pairs. We are excited to welcome back James Reddoch, LOFL project manager in 2025 for his third year leading this effort. Many of you probably met James or corresponded with him last summer, and I'm sure like all of us at Maine Lakes, you will be pleased to have his energy and passion back leading the project in 2025. Welcome back, James

tools for lofl volunteers

This section provides tools for those who have completed the steps to become a LOFL Volunteer. Email the  LOFL Program Manager  with questions about these resources or for additional support.  

Look Out for Loons Brochures

Digital and print copies of brochures are available for your use. They include the following. NOTE: Print copies are subject to availability. To request print copies, print and complete this Materials Request Form. Completed forms can be sent to the LOFL Program Manager .

• How Close is Too Close brochure This brochure provides a simple way to understand loon behavior and avoid getting too close.
• Living in Loon Territory This brochure provides an overview for boaters, anglers, and others about how to enjoy Maine’s lakes and ponds while not disturbing loons.       
• Fish Lead Free Print brochures are available to promote Maine’s Fish Lead Free Program. Digital information can be provided at Fish Lead Free Maine.  

EFFective one on one conversations

The LOFL Program provides tutorials for helping volunteers have effective interactions with individuals or small groups of friends, neighbors, and lake users about Maine’s common loons. Review the following as you build your talking points: 

Look Out for Loons Training Tutorials: 

Common Loon Basics. This tutorial provides key facts about common loon natural history as well as a review of the human-driven risks loons face during nesting season. 

Teaching Lake Users “How Close is Too Close? This tutorial provides tips for observing loon behavior from a safe distance. 

3 Simple Actions that Decrease Disturbance. This tutorial outlines simple actions which, if taken by lake users consistently, will decrease disturbance to nesting loons and their chicks. 

Sample Script: Review this sample script for speaking with individuals about Maine’s common loons. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the brochure titled How Close is Too Close?

Conducting group presentations

Lake associations, libraries, and community organizations are excellent places to share information about protecting loons. The resources below can be downloaded and customized for use with your group. 

• Look Out for Loons Community Presentation Slide Deck
• Look Out for Loons Community Presentation Script

are signs appropriate for your lake?

Signs are available to give notice to lake users about loons and their nests. This link provides guidelines developed between Maine Audubon and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife for use when determining the use and placement of signs. Please review carefully and contact the LOFL Program Manager   if signs seem appropriate for your lake or pond.

report a problem with loons

 This resource is helpful if you encounter a problem with a loon, their nest or if you encounter loon harassment situations which need to be reported.  

volunteer tracking

Please complete this form and submit to the LOFL Program Manager   in order to keep track of your time, the number of contacts you have made or the number of brochures you have distributed.  

research tools

Research Tools: As LOFL volunteers conduct their outreach activities it may be helpful to know a bit more about loons and their activity on Maine’s lakes and ponds. Use the following links to learn more:   

• Lakes of Maine provides an interactive map for exploring Maine’s loon lakes and loon monitoring data. Use this site to learn more about the loons on lakes you visit.  
• Maine’s Common Loon,  is a publication by Maine Audubon which provides more detail about the natural history of the common loon. 
• More on Loon Behavior. The Loon Preservation Committee website provides more reading and videos on loon behavior.   

Loon Raft

James Reddoch, Sue Downes-Borko, Victor Borko and Fred Dubay

LOON RESTORATION PROJECT BACKGROUND

On the afternoon of Sunday, April 27, 2003, just south of Westport, Mass., an oil tanker operated by the Bouchard Transportation Company passed on the wrong side of a navigational marker and struck rocks underwater, gouging a 12-foot hole in its hull. In the hours that followed, 98,000 gallons of heavy #6 fuel flowed into Buzzards Bay.

The damage to natural resources was extensive and far reaching. Oil washed up along 100 miles of beaches, rocky shoreline, marshes and tidal flats. Shellfish, migratory birds, marine mammals, fish and invertebrates died directly because of the spill, with longer-term damage to their habitat and to water quality affecting survival for decades to come. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimated that 531 Common Loons over-wintering or migrating through the area of the spill died as a result of the spill.

• Read more about the project at Maine Audubon.
• Watch a webinar from March 26, 2024 led by Tracy Hart and other members of the Maine Loon Restoration Team. Updates on the status of Maine's loons and progress achieved through the Maine Restoration Project is provided. 
• Read the lead article about the project in the Maine Lakes fall issue of For the Sake of Our Lakes

Project Funding & goals

Since loons that breed in Maine are known to winter offshore along the New England coast, many suspected some of the of the dead loons were from Maine’s breeding population. This was confirmed when oiled loons were discovered in Maine following the spill. More than 18 years later, a project funded by the responsible party will finally attempt to recover the “loon years lost” from Maine’s breeding population of Common Loons.

Goals of the Project: The project seeks to increase the number of chicks on Maine’s lakes and ponds, and decrease the number of deaths and disruptions. To do that, the partners will:

• Increase loon productivity by engaging volunteers to place, monitor, and maintain loon nesting rafts where loons have not been successful producing chicks in recent years;
• Conduct outreach and exchange programs that reduce the use of lead tackle;
• Engage volunteers in outreach to lake users and in direct nest protection efforts that reduce disturbance to nesting loons and lethal collisions between boats and loon families.

Who is Involved with this Project:  Maine Lakes partners with Maine Audubon, Lakes Environmental Association, and the Penobscot Nation in delivering the Maine Loon Restoration Project. 

A NOTE ABOUT RAFTS

If Part of the loon restoration project includes launching and monitoring artificial rafts to add nesting sites on lakes where those sites are limited. If you have a group on a lake where a raft looks like it will help loon productivity, the project will provide extensive training about building and monitoring loon rafts, supply all the materials you need to launch a raft on your lake, and support your group along the way!

Watch a webinar about raft building.

For more information please contact Laura Williams at Maine Audubon,  lwilliams@maineaudubon.org  or (207) 781-2331 ext. 219, or Loon Restoration crew at  loonrestoration@maineaudubon.org.

If you are in the Lakes Environmental Association service area (Greater Bridgton), please contact Maggie Welch, maggie@mainelakes.org or (207) 647-8580

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THIS PROJECT!

 With the help of trained Look Out for Loon volunteers like you, we hope to engage with a wide audience across the state in order to increase public awareness of threats loons face and what lake users can do to help loon populations survive and thrive.