Loons on Lake Koshkonong

I, and others, did see Common Loons on Lake Koshkonong yesterday. I did not see large numbers, perhaps for or five from the end of Blackhawk Island Road, but we were only looking at one small portion of the lake.

Had we surveyed the whole lake, we maybe would have seen more. There were,
however, very high numbers of other waterfowl along the north edge of the lake, many of them being Common Mergansers, of which the males are very visible from a long distance. As someone mentioned on the MAS board, it's possible that many of the distant loons were actually mergs.
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Cheers!
Tim Hahn
New Berlin, WI

Yes, indeed, we have Loons - down river, I have had a single Loon hanging by my pier all week.

Date: Mon, Mar 28, 2011, 9:12 AM

There was a post on the Madison Audubon message board last night mentioning that there were large numbers of loons on Lake Koshkonong, in the southwest corner of Jefferson County. I would imagine they'll be
moving up the Yahara chain as the lakes thaw in succession - I haven't checked Kegonsa lately, but Waubesa was maybe a third or so open on Saturday, and Lake Monona this morning looks ready to go any day now (large areas of open water where the Yahara and Starkweather Creek empty into it, plus leads developing in the ice at other spots.) I'll try to get up to the 9th floor later to check on Lake Mendota's progress.
Come on, Spring!