Greetings Everyone, I was caught off guard when Jaqueline approached me and said it was time for the 2017 Wildlife Report. Where has this year gone?

 

I remember on March 14^th when I saw our first loon by the island. It seems it was like yesterday. We had plenty of the usual wildlife sightings all around the lake: on the large size, bear, deer and moose, as well as plenty of foxes and wolves moving through the bush and on the cottage roads.

As for our feathered friends, we also had an outstanding year. The migration in the spring brought plenty of ducks including mallards, cormorants, wood ducks, common and hooded mergansers, bufflehead and ring-necked ducks. Most of these birds used Salerno as a stopover on route to wherever.

Our usual residents were here such as, owls, herons, grouse, common mergansers, gulls, kingfishers and members of the wood pecker family. We can’t leave out our feeder friends such has hummingbirds, blue jays, nuthatches, sparrows, chickadees and many other species we were fortunate to have on the lake.

 

As you’ll recall, we had an incredible amount of rain which affected the shorelines on most lakes. This made nesting on the shoreline very difficult and did affect the births of many ducks and birds. The black flies were horrendous which also bothered the loons even on the lake.

Despite that we had a good season for loons. I reported to Bird Studies of Canada we had 3 pair and a single loon take residence on Salerno Lake. Seven loons is the average for us and I was pleased.

 

I witnessed in June two loons mating by the Island and the female sitting on the nest for several days. The male seemed to disappear and with the fluctuating water levels the nest was flooded. The female abandoned the nest and the result was no loon chicks. We were lucky last year we had two loon chicks born on Salerno.

 

Along with our resident loons we often had many times visiting loons. In August there were 8 visitors who arrived to join the others. This is always good to see.

 

With the season changing our loons began to migrate south In September. Many of you witnessed our last loon in October in its molting process. This is where the loon loses its beautiful colours and turns blackish and gray.  I have not seen this loon for several weeks and I can only hope it has migrated.

 

It was great to see all this loon activity this season on Salerno Lake, a true sign that our lake is a healthy home for our wildlife and loons.

Hope to see everyone in the spring when our loons return.

 

Have a safe winter.

Kevin K Pepper

 

Salerno Lake Loon Report - 2016

 

November 2016

Once again where has the season gone! It seems it was not long ago we were waiting for spring and now we are preparing our cottages and homes for the cold weather and the lake to take on a bed of ice and snow.

We had an outstanding year on Salerno as the wildlife made its home here or passed through as a visitor. The usual cast of characters such our bears, moose with young calves and plenty of deer roaming the bush. There were coyote, fox and wolf sightings along with our friendly raccoons. I’m sure there were plenty of others that just went unseen in the darkness of night.

As for our feathered friends we also had an outstanding year. The migration in the spring brought plenty of ducks including mallards, cormorants, wood ducks, common and hooded mergansers, bufflehead and ring-necked ducks. Most of these birds used Salerno as a stopover on route to wherever. Our usual residents were here, owls, herons, grouse, common mergansers, gulls, king-fishers and members of the wood pecker family. We can’t leave out our feeder friends such has hummingbirds, blue jays, nuthatches, sparrows, chickadees and many other species we were fortunate to have on the lake.
We had an increase in our cooper hawk population this year along with spotting an osprey patrolling the shores. The merlin falcon made its presence known for a short period. AND we can’t leave out our Loons. This year they arrived in April and we had two pair and a single take up residence on Salerno. It is so important to have a Loon population on the lake. The Loon is our barometer to tell us we have a clean and healthy lake.
Throughout the summer I witnessed many Loons visiting our lake in the morning to join up with our residents. One morning I experienced 12 Loons in one sighting. It was not uncommon to have 8 to 10 Loons drop in and visit. Again this indicted to me the quality of our water was able to sustain a fish popu-lation to feed our guests. A good sign.

The highlight of the Loon season was on the morning of July 8th , when on one of my Loon Watches I discovered 2 Loon chicks at the south end of the lake. This was just incredible. The nest was located in the marshy area out of sight and safe from predators. The last time we had young Loons on the lake was two years ago. Our Loon popu-lation had grown to 7 overnight.

I have spent the season following the Family and several times thought we lost one of the chicks. I know the Mother has abandoned one of the chicks however it is doing very well on its own. September 22nd was day 74 for the chicks and they are both doing well. The next major event will be the Mother migrating by herself and leaving the young adults to fend for themselves. I determined the Mother migrated on or around September 29th. Let’s hope the young adults will migrate before the ice comes in.

I want to thank everyone for their interest and support of our wildlife on Salerno Lake. Kevin

 

July 21 2016

Loon Report - Kevin K Pepper, Salerno Lake Loon Stewart

Early in June I witnessed two of our Loons in a mating process along the shoreline. I wasn't sure if this was going to result in chicks being born however very early on Friday morning, July 8th I seen two adults Loons with two Loon chicks. What amazing experience to see these chicks only hours after they were born. The addition of the chicks brings our Loon count to seven. This a a record for our lake as far as I know. 

The Loon chicks will be with their parents until the start of September. This is a very short time for the chicks to be trained to function as a full fledged adult Loon before the parents leave to begin their migration south. The chicks will be left to fend for themselves before they start their migration in October. The parents and chicks will never meet up again. 

 

These three day old chicks are at a very critical stage and the odds are against them to survive. The parents are busy protecting them against the elements, predators and human contact. We as cottagers and boaters must do our part to protect these young Loons to ensure a safe and healthy season on Salerno Lake. 

 

The population of the Common Loon is decreasing and this is very bothersome considering the Common Loon is our Provincial Bird.

Please do your part to protect these beautiful creatures.

 

April 25 2016