Courtesy of Ray Hennessy

You Can Help Loons!

Loons are a beloved species on New Hampshire’s lakes. Unfortunately, they can be very vulnerable to human activity and disturbance. This page contains basic information to help boaters and anglers reduce their potential impacts on loons.

Use the following links to jump to a section on this page:

Guidelines for Boaters
Guidelines for Anglers
Reporting Loons in Distress

Guidelines for Boaters

Photo courtesy of Brian Reilly

Give nesting loons space

We recommend maintaining a distance of 150 feet or more between your boat and a loon nest. The photo above shows a loon on the nest with its head lowered, a behavior that indicates the loon feels threatened. If you see a nesting loon in this position, please back away until it lifts its head and resumes a more relaxed, upright position. This guideline applies not only to motor boats and jet skis but also to human-powered vessels such as canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards.

Loons are vulnerable on land, and if they feel threatened they will assume a hunched position on their nests, with their heads low and angled towards the water. This is an attempt to hide from the perceived threat. If the threat persists in the area, the loon may flush off of the nest, leaving its eggs unattended and vulnerable to predators and/or weather conditions that may cause eggs to become inviable. Please give loons on the nest plenty of space. If you accidentally stumble upon a loon nest, please back away from the area.

John Rockwood

Give loons on the water space, especially if they have chicks.

We recommend a distance of at least 150 feet whenever possible.

Loon parents have a big job to do over the course of the first 12 weeks of a chick’s life. They need to constantly feed their chicks and keep an eye out for potential predators. When they are closely approached or pursued by boats, adult loons shift their focus towards getting away from this potential threat, and in that time are distracted from catching fish and looking out for predators. This can reduce chick survival.

Brian Reilly

If you flush a loon off of the nest…

If you accidentally flush a loon off of the nest, leave the area immediately so that the loon can feel comfortable enough to resume incubating its eggs.

Kittie Wilson

Boat cautiously around loons

Boat cautiously in areas marked with LPC’s signs, or in areas where you see a loon family.

While adult loons are typically able to dive quickly enough to avoid being hit by a fast-moving boat, loon chicks are more buoyant and therefore less able to dive. They are more likely to be hit. Keeping an eye out and moving slowly in areas where loon families are known to spend time can help to avoid these situations.

Guidelines for Anglers

John Rockwood

Use only non-lead, loon-safe tackle when fishing.

Lead poisoning resulting from the ingestion of lead fishing tackle is the number one cause of documented adult loon mortality in New Hampshire, accounting for 41% of documented loon deaths since 1989.

LPC’s data suggests that loons primarily ingest lead tackle through active use, either by consuming a fish that has broken an angler’s line and consumed lead tackle itself, or by mistaking the glint of the tackle on an angler’s line for a minnow as the line is reeled in and striking at it. To prevent unnecessary and avoidable loon deaths, please do not use lead fishing tackle. The Loon Preservation Committee and New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game provide a Lead Tackle Buyback program to help anglers make the switch to non-lead, loon-safe tackle.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Langer

Reel in your line around loons

Avoid casting towards or in the general vicinity of loons. If a loon strikes at and breaks your line, it may become tangled.

Loons are visual predators and may strike at your line if they mistake your lure or the glint of your tackle for a fish. Loons may also strike at a fish on your line. Loons trailing line often end up with it wrapped tightly around their bills, preventing them from being able to eat and keep their feathers waterproofed. Tangled loons can decline rapidly. Without intervention, they may die within the span of a few days to a few weeks, depending on the degree of entanglement.

If you accidentally hook a loon on your line, please call the Loon Preservation Committee at 603-476-5666. After 5 PM, please use our online form.

Reporting Loons in Distress

The Loon Preservation Committee rescues loons that are in distress. If you see a loon that is tangled, beached (on shore but not on a nest), floating listlessly close to shore, or otherwise in distress, please call the Loon Preservation Committee or use our online form.

Some normal loon behaviors look unusual, and loons performing these behaviors may appear to be in distress. If you see a loon flapping or thrashing in the water or picking at itself, it may just be preening or bathing. See the videos below to check whether the behavior you are observing is one of these self-maintenance behaviors.

Preening: Loons preen to keep their feathers waterproofed and in good condition. While this behavior can seem like the loon is attempting to pull something off of its body, it is actually taking oil from a gland at the base of its tail and spreading it over its feathers to keep them waterproof.

Loons bathe to clean their feathers and rid themselves of feather lice or other external parasites. Bathing involves vigorous splashing and submerging in the water and can appear alarming to observers unfamiliar with the behavior.