Love loons? The Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program is a great way to get involved with wildlife on lakes near you.
The Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program is a long-term project of the Nongame Wildlife Program. Hundreds of volunteers collect information about common loon numbers on more than 600 lakes. These lakes are distributed among six regions, or index areas.
Loons are good indicators of water quality because they need clean, clear water to catch food; sensitive to disturbance and lakeshore development; indicators of the effect of contaminants like mercury and lead in the environment; and enjoyable for Minnesotans to watch!
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Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program brochure (PDF)
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How it works
Want to Monitor Loons? Here are answers to frequently asked questions When do I survey? • The survey generally runs for 10 days from the last week of June through the first week of July. • Surveys are done once between 5 a.m. and noon during the monitoring period. • Pick nice weather days with little wind. How long does it take? • Survey time depends on lake size: • Small (<150 acres) 30—60 min • Medium (150-400 acres) 30 min to 2 hrs • Large (>400 acres) 2 to 4 hrs What equipment do I need to survey? • Binoculars and/or spotting scope. • Bird identification guide book. • Surveys can be conducted from shore or by boat or canoe. What can I expect to see? • Larger lakes are more likely to have loons. • Most breeding pairs will have 0 to 2 young. Can I survey any lake? • This survey design has 100 lakes in each index area that need to be adopted by volunteers.
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Volunteer today!
Volunteers visit each lake one morning during a 10-day period in the summer and count the number of adult and juvenile loons. The observations are shared with the DNR. Thanks to hundreds of volunteers, we have over 20 years of data on more than 600 lakes. This long-term data gives us the ability to detect changes in the adult population and reproductive success of the state’s common loons and to anticipate any problems that could jeopardize the future of our state bird.
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doitinnorth shop/share gallery
Minnesota Loon Gifts Tsunrisebey Vintage Minnesota Loon Country Cabin Throw Pillow
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Sign up for a lake
View available lakes with the Minnesota Loon Monitoring Volunteer Map.
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