On July 21, 2001, ACLP’s first Annual Loon Census was conducted to determine the presence of Common Loons on lakes and ponds throughout the Adirondack Park and the surrounding region.  A dedicated group of 255 observers submitted 155 reports from 130 lakes in New York State, 119 (92%) of which were located within the Adirondack Park (2001-Chart #1, 2001 Annual Loon Census Map).

Locations where loons were observed in the 2001 census are shown in the 2001 Annual Loon Census Map. The 2001 Annual Loon Census Results Table provides the lakes where observations were conducted and the number of loons observed on each lake.

Adults with chicks were observed on 40 (31%) lakes. Adult loons without chicks were observed on an additional 62 (48%) lakes. One immature loon was recorded without adults on one lake.  No loons were observed on 28 (22%) of the 130 lakes that were observed (2001-Chart #2).

A total of 373 loons were observed on 102 (78%) of the lakes surveyed during the census hour (2001 Annual Census Results Table). (An additional 19 adult loons were observed flying overhead, but were not included as part of the final census analysis to enable comparison with observation in subsequent years.) Based on the observations, 308 (83%) of the loons were adults, 59 (16%) were chicks, and 6 (1%) were immature birds (2001-Chart #3). 

We are extremely grateful to the more than 250 observers that spent a beautiful Saturday morning participating in ACLP’s 2001 Annual Loon Census!

We look forward to even greater success next summer!

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A Note Regarding the 2001 Loon Census Results: ACLP’s Annual Loon Census has been refined since it was initiated in 2001. Thus, the 2001 results have been re-evaluated to correspond with subsequent years (e.g.: observers no longer count flying loons). Therefore, the results reported here may be slightly different than what was originally reported (e.g.: the total count of loons does not include flying birds).