The Sebago Lake Loon Count takes place from 7 to 7:30 a.m. July 20. File photo
About 50 people are expected to take to Sebago Lake for a half hour on July 20 for Maine Audubon’s 41st Annual Loon Count on Sebago Lake.
The count will take place from 7 to 7:30 a.m.
Raymond resident Brad McCurtain, president of Maine Securities Corporation in Portland, organized the first official Sebago Lake loon count in 2022, recruiting volunteers from the communities that border the lake. Before then, the 49 separate survey areas on the lake, which has more than 100 miles of shorefront, posed a challenge for Maine Audubon, McCurtain said. Although volunteers were out counting loons on the lake, they didn’t cover all of the areas so the Sebago Lake count wasn’t eligible to appear in official Maine Audubon records.
In 2022, the counters reported 32 adult loons and a single chick. Last year they counted 44 adult loons.
“It is pretty incredible to look out over Sebago and view dozens and dozens of watercraft slowly, quietly and methodically trolling the entire lake early on a July morning for one purpose: to observe and to count the lake’s loons,” McCurtain said in a press release. “No other count in Maine is quite like Sebago’s.”
A few of Sebago Lake’s survey areas are expected to open up for new counters this year. Anyone with a motorboat, canoe,
kayak or paddleboard has an opportunity to join in the experience. For more information or to sign up, email SebagoLoons@gmail.com.
About 1,600 volunteers are expected to participate in the July 20 Loon Count on ponds and lakes statewide.
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