First Reported Loon Sighting!

Friday, March 19, 2010: We have received our first word of a loon pair Spring sighting! They arrived on their territorial Mecosta County lake as soon as the ice was off. We're happy to start welcoming our Michigan loons back home!

New Issue of "Loon Echoes" Just Out!

"Patiently Waiting" by Leslie Lewis, Loon Ranger

March 16, 2010: Our latest issue of our Loon Echoes quarterly newsletter is just off the press and is on its way to our members and friends! This is our annual membership issue, and features a timely and thought-provoking article by Ranger Steve Mueller, as well as a great loon rescue story by Ross & Rose Ann Powers, another of Auntie Arloon's informative answers to a reader query, literary reviews by our resident Looney Bookworm and our latest Loon Mercantile catalog, among other special features and pages.

We would be happy to send a copy to any of our Friends of the Loon out there who are not yet on our mailing list; and would welcome your membership or donation. Membership opportunities begin at just $10, and include a year of Loon Echoes, an MLPA decal, and updates about loons throughout the year. Best of all is knowing that your contribution goes a long way in helping MLPA and Michigan Loonwatch with our work in fulfilling our mission: to protect and preserve one of Michigan's most exquisite species, the Common Loon, and its critical habitat, our beautiful Michigan lakes.

To request a copy of Loon Echoes, and to become a friend or member of MLPA-MLW and the Common Loon, please contact Joanne at michiganloons@yahoo.com or Luanne at jaruzel.tds.net, or call Joanne at Loon Central: 989-828-6019. Thank you; and happy springtime Loon-watching as our birds begin to return home to their northern territorial lakes!

Preparing for Spring

"Loons Swimming in a Circle" by Shelley Martinez, Loon Ranger

Loon Ranger Spring Packets: Mid-to-Late winter is the time that we begin to prepare for Spring and the long-awaited arrival of the loons. Right now, the Loon Ranger Spring Packets are being prepared and will be sent out beginning in late April. These will contain the yearly updated pages for the Loon Ranger Manual, the maps and Lake Report Form to record the information gathered throughout the season. These reports, returned to us in the Fall, help us to know how better to protect and help our loons. So please remember to return your reports, even if no loons were seen on your lake, and/or if no nesting took place or chicks were seen. Thank you, Loon Rangers!

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Would You Like to become a Loon Ranger or Area Coordinator? Michigan Loonwatch would welcome your participation! Please contact Joanne Williams, State Coordinator at michiganloons@yahoo.com

Working Together To Protect Loons

"Stay Close, Little One" by Dale Doepker, Loon Ranger

MLPA-MLW is a broad-spectrum group with one narrow objective: to protect the loons.

But the implementation of protecting loons covers a wide variety of research, management, monitoring, organization and education. No one narrow activity would be able to address problems ranging from lead and mercury poisoning, mile-long gill nets, habitat destruction of their prey base, harassment by boaters and jet-skis, nest disturbance and destruction and hundreds of other problems which have been identified through years of research and data collection by Michigan Loonwatch, its Loon Rangers and its research projects. These are among the many issues that MLPA and MLW are there to address, with the help of state and federal agencies, Michigan’s citizens, and concerned others as we work together for the success of our beautiful loons and their young, for the present and for the future.

Working Together:
Loon protection is a complex effort, and requires so much more than it would seem. There is much to be coordinated, so much to be aware of, so much to learn as we go along day to day. But, most of all, we realize that it is not an isolated effort, but it takes cooperative outreach among those who have the concern and the processes in place to work toward this worthy goal. Combining and coordinating our efforts is the key to the success of the common desire that we all share: the success of the loons and their young on our beautiful Michigan lakes.

There are many groups in our state that work toward this common goal, and MLPA-MLW is part of this network. It is a good thing to be able to share our concentrations, methods and outreach; to combine our work in the different ways that we approach this important and vital task of helping to ensure that our loons will thrive and continue to make Michigan lakes their territorial home.

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Would You Like to Help Save Michigan’s Loons?
Here are Some Good Ways to Begin!

1. Join the Michigan Loon Preservation Association at any level. Membership opportunities begin at $10: contact Luanne Jaruzel at jaruzel@tds.net

2. Donate to our Operating or Endowment Fund: contact Luanne Jaurzel at jaruzel@tds.net

3. Donate to the Loon Nestling Project: for information contact Joanne Williams at michiganloons@yahoo.com

4. Purchase gifts from the Loon Mercantile: visit www.michiganloons.com

5. Become a member of our board of directors, or sign up to help at festivals: contact Arlene Westhoven at westhova@ferris.edu

6. Become a Loon Ranger or Area Coordinator: contact Joanne Williams at michiganloons@yahoo.com

7. Invite friends and family to visit our sites: michiganloons.com, michiganloons.org and michiganloonwatch.blogspot.com. Encourage them to join the Michigan Loon Preservation Association to ensure that the Common Loon continues to return to our northern lakes.

***Thank you! We Appreciate Your Support!***

"Let's Go This Way!" by Shelley Martinez, Loon Ranger

Michigan Loonwatch Update: July 2009

"Mom Looks at Her Babies" by Shelley Martinez, Loon Ranger

Growing Steadily: The summer in full bloom now and everything is growing, including Michigan’s new loon chicks, and our MLPA Loonwatch Program! We have added ten new Loon Rangers in the past month, twenty since last fall! Loonwatch is now in its twenty-third year, and continues to expand and to be the foremost group protecting our loons and their habitat statewide. Support for MLPA and Loonwatch is also growing, as we are adding new members each week. We rely on our memberships to help provide the services that keep alive our efforts for the loons. We sincerely thank all of you who are a part of MLPA and Michigan Loonwatch, and are looking forward to the continued growth of our membership and work. We encourage those who are not yet MLPA members to join us as we look to a bright future for our organization and for the loons!

Important Work: This summer has seen much activity in loon protection. Our volunteer Loon Rangers provide something that no regular paid staff could have time or funding to do, and that is day-to-day monitoring and protection of the loons on the lakes. Our volunteers are the backbone of our group and, indeed, of loon protection in Michigan. We are grateful that so many of our Michigan citizens, over 250 (as well as summering Rangers from Illinois and Wisconsin) have stepped up to provide this invaluable work. Why do they do this? Very simply, it is out of love for the loons and for our priceless natural heritage. That is why, year after year, as they return to the lakes along with the loons, the Loon Rangers gladly begin again their happy task of watching, and waiting for the moment of the first glimpse of the season's new chicks; the new little family. It is a good sign, full of hope for the future and for us all.

Spring Thoughts & News: April 20, 2009

"Little Family" by Lesley Lewis

A Gift in Turn

This is the time of year when the loons are returning to their northern territorial lakes, and when our day to day monitoring and protecting efforts for the birds begins in earnest. This is the time when your financial support is needed most of all, as we prepare materials for the Loon Rangers, educational materials for riparian owners and lake users, as well as sending them to groups and agencies throughout Michigan. We also help provide materials for Artificial Nesting Islands and loon informational buoys to help protect nesting loons.

Your membership and donation support is greatly appreciated. Please consider the gifts the loons give to us with their presence on our lakes, as they grace us with their beauty and stir our spirits with their haunting and ancient song. Helping them helps us in turn.

We have new membership opportunities, beginning with an Introductory $10 category. Our mail-in membership form can be found at michiganloons.com (be sure to write-in your $10 Introductory choice), or contact Luanne Jaruzel: jaruzel@tds.net. Thank you very much!

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Recent Happenings!

The April 5, 2009 Citizen Science Day at North Central College, Petoskey, was a great success as we presented our information and recruited a new volunteer Loon Ranger as well as a prospective Loon Ranger and new members.

MLPA, Michigan Loonwatch and Wildlife Recovery Association attended together and had a large collective display, along with some of the live birds that share the loons’ habitat. Although general population attendance was limited due to the Sunday time, we enjoyed a productive and exciting day and are looking forward to next year’s event.

We were able to make and renew contacts with other professional and important outdoor groups such as the MI DNR Nongame Wildlife Division, Bird Studies Canada, Osprey Nesting Project, and Ducks Unlimited/MI Duck Hunters’ Association, who have helped us in the past with building and placing Loon Nesting Islands; as well as with Michigan Audubon and many others. We had seven representatives present: Joanne Williams, Joe and Barb Rogers, Ross and Rose Ann Powers, Jeff Lange and our CMU Student Photographer, Paige Calamari (all photos). Thank you all for a great day!

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Great Lakes Loons ESPN Radio Interview on April 3, 2009 at Dow Diamond in Midland was an exciting opportunity for us! Cathy Jaruzel, daughter of MLPA Board member Luanne Jaruzel, arranged for the interview with Brad Golder, Director of Communications for 100.9, ESPN Radio Midland. Cathy, Luanne and Joanne Williams were pleased to be able to talk about Michigan’s beautiful loons and about our organization and work to protect and preserve them in our state. Especially exciting was the chance to discuss how thrilled we were to have the Great Lakes Loons Baseball Team named after our favorite bird, and how many things related to both the birds and the team, from the migrating south in the winter and returning north in the spring, to the enduring qualities that make for success, such as perseverance, dedication, strength, and a never-give-up heart…the “Loon Heart” of legend and tradition. Thank you, Great Lakes Loons; and best of luck this season to the Team and to our wonderful birds, our Michigan Loons!