FOR MANY PEOPLE, THE HAUNTING CRY OF A LOON ON A SUMMER NIGHT IS THE CALL OF THE WILD.
TAPE SFX: LOON WAIL.
THAT CRY COMES FROM A COMPACT DISC. FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, CAPTURING A LOON?S CALL ON UMBAGOG LAKE HAS BEEN GROWING INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT. KATE TAYLOR IS A BIOLOGIST FOR THE LOON PRESERVATION COMMITTEE IN MOULTONBOROUGH, NEW HAMPSHIRE. SHE KEEPS A CLOSE WATCH ON THE LOON?S POPULATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE. LOONS ARE TERRITORIAL, AND THEY COMPETE FOR THE BEST NESTING SITES. TAYLOR SAYS THREE YEARS AGO, THE POPULATION OF NESTING LOONS ON UMBAGOG WAS AT FULL CAPACITY FOR THAT LAKE. 31-PAIRS OCCUPIED 31-TERRITORIAL NEST SITES.
TAPE KATE TAYLOR 080 we may see plus or minus three territories a year /// variance over time. But in 2001 when we had eight territories vacant, with no reoccupation by other loons, that stuck out.
ESPECIALLY SINCE NO OTHER LAKE WAS AFFECTED. TERRITORIES WERE LEFT VACANT ONLY ON UMBAGOG LAKE, A NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE. USUALLY, NESTING PAIRS RETURN YEAR AFTER YEAR TO THE SAME LAKE. STILL, TAYLOR SAYS, AT FIRST SHE WASN?T TOO CONCERNED.
TAPE KATE TAYLOR 148 it could have been a fluke; it was some sort of anomaly that year. And then the second year, when it occurred again, we became alarmed.
IN 2002, ONLY 16-TERRITORIES WERE OCCUPIED ? ALMOST HALF AS MANY AS TWO-YEARS BEFORE. OFFICIAL NUMBERS AREN?T IN FOR THIS YEAR, BUT TAYLOR BELIEVES THEY?LL BE SIMILAR TO LAST YEAR.
TAPE TAYLOR. 280 It was so isolated to lake umbagog. /// 282 So we did start looking at what?s going on, on that lake. What are the birds picking up on that lake. So the fish became suspect. Was there a biotoxin we?re talking about? Is it parasites, or a virus? Was there some sort of spill that was leaching into the water? Those are some of the theories we started out with.
TAYLOR SAYS NO THEORIES HAVE BEEN RULED OUT. COMMON LOONS SPEND THE WINTER IN OPEN OCEAN WATERS BETWEEN LABRADOR IN CANADA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO. BIOLOGISTS DON?T KNOW, HOWEVER, WHERE, EXACTLY, THE BIRDS FROM UMBAGOG GO. WHAT ROUTE DO THEY FOLLOW TO GET THERE? WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM EN-ROUTE?
IN 1998, BIOLOGISTS WORKING IN THE MIDWEST DEVELOPED A TECHNIQUE OF IMPLANTING TINY SATELLITE TRANSMITTERS TO TRACK MIGRATING LOONS. SCIENTISTS AT UMBAGOG WONDERED IF THE TECHNIQUE COULD HELP THEM. F-P-L ENERGY, THE POWER COMPANY THAT OPERATES A HYDRO-DAM ON UMBAGOG, OFFERED TO FUND AN EFFORT TO IMPLANT TWO BIRDS WITH TRANSMITTERS.
TAPE: SFX, MOTOR BOAT STARTS. 237//242//280
ON A MOONLIT NIGHT IN LATE SUMMER, TWO TEAMS OF BIOLOGISTS SET OUT IN TWO BOATS FOR THE NORTH SIDE OF UMBAGOG LAKE. THIS WAS A JOINT EFFORT, PARTLY TO HELP DEFRAY COSTS. THE BIOLOGISTS WITH THE LOON PRESERVATION COMMITTEE JOINED F-P-L ENERGY, THE BIO-DIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF FALMOUTH, MAINE, AND THE U-S FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE.
TAPE: 317 SFX, ENGINE SLOWS AND DIES. 384 OVER RADIO kyle, you on?
385 yeah, we got the pair with one chick down at the cove
BILL HANSON IS A BIOLOGIST WITH F-P-L ENERGY. HE EXPLAINED THAT THE TECHNIQUE USED TO CAPTURE LOONS INVOLVES FOOLING THEM INTO THINKING THEY?RE BEING APPROACHED BY AN INTRUDING LOON. IN A SMALL BOAT, HIDDEN BEHIND A BRIGHT SPOT LIGHT, A BIOLOGIST WITH A NET PLAYS RECORDED LOON CALLS. HANSON SAYS THE BIRDS RESPOND INSTINCTIVELY.
TAPE HANSON 491 we?ll play a variety of different calls, like tremolos, yodels, even a chick distress call. We?ll try some different calls, and we?re watching them the whole time with binoculars through the light beam, and most of the time they turn and swim right to the boat.
BUT THIS NIGHT, THE BOATS ARE BACK-LIT BY A NEARLY FULL MOON. PERHAPS THAT?S WHY THE LOONS PROVE MORE ELUSIVE THAN USUAL.
[TAPE TWO, SFX, 129, BOAT NOISE, NO TALKING, TO 148.]
FOR HOURS, BOTH BOATS PROCEED SLOWLY, STOPPING PERIODICALLY. THE BIOLOGISTS PLAY THE RECORDING AND LISTEN FOR A RESPONSE.
TAPE 2 SFX 224//229//233 [RECORDED LOON CALLS]
FINALLY, WELL PAST MIDNIGHT, ONE OF THE TEAMS CAPTURES A FEMALE LOON. SHE IS WRAPPED CAREFULLY IN A TOWEL AND RUSHED TO A MAKESHIFT OPERATING THEATRE AT THE EDGE OF SHORE.
TAPE 2, 3003 SFX BOAT NOISE, STEPS ON DOCK, /// 323 ZIPPER NOISE
THE OPERATING ROOM CONSISTS OF A FOLDING TABLE DRAPED IN STERILE DRESSING INSIDE A SCREENED-IN TENT. A GENERATOR PROVIDES POWER FOR BRIGHT OVERHEAD LIGHTS.
TAPE 2, KEVIN KENOW 369 how?s the bird doing?
THE SURGEON IS THE MAN WHO DEVELOPED THE SATELLITE TECHNIQUE. KEVIN KENOW, A BIOLOGIST WITH THE U-S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, HAS FLOWN IN FROM HIS RESEARCH STATION IN WISCONSIN.
TAPE 381 KEVIN KENOW: start taping her feathers back? VOICE sure, no reason not to.
A VETERINARIAN KEEPS THE BIRD UNDER ANESTHESIA. WITHIN MINUTES, THE LOON?S BRIGHT RED EYE SHOWS NO RESPONSE.
TAPE2 KENOW 437 I?m making an incision at the nape of the neck/// 444 now I?m going to create a pocket for the transmitter to sit in, just underneath the skin.
THE TRANSMITTER IS ABOUT THE SIZE OF A CIGARETTE LIGHTER. IT?S ATTACHED TO A BATTERY ABOUT THE SAME SIZE.
TAPE 2 478 KENOW okay, you got the antennae?
KENOW THREADS AN EIGHT INCH LONG ANTENNAE UP AN OUT THROUGH THE SKIN ABOUT AN INCH BEHIND THE TRANSMITTER.
TAPE KENOW 505 ok, ready to start closing.
THE ENTIRE OPERATION LASTS 15 MINUTES. THE BIRD BEGINS TO STIR ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. KENOW SAYS MOST BIRDS BARELY ACKNOWLEDGE THE ANTENNAE PROTRUDING FROM THEIR NECK.
TAPE KENOW sometimes you?ll see the birds preen it /// they?ll try and preen it as a feather, but surprisingly enough it generally doesn?t cause that much of a problem.
KENOW WILL WATCH THE BIRD FOR HALF AN HOUR TO MAKE SURE THE AFFECTS OF THE ANESTHETIC WEAR OFF. AFTER THAT, THE BIRD WILL BE RUSHED BACK AND RETURNED TO THE WATER AT THE EXACT POINT WHERE IT WAS CAPTURED. THE TRANSMITTER IS ALREADY SENDING A SIGNAL.
TAPE 3, KENOW, it transmits[BEEP] every 65 seconds so that signal is picked up by a satellite which is orbiting some 500 miles above the earth. /// 092 the transmission is picked up and bounced back to earth, information is then transmitted on the internet.
A YEAR FROM NOW, WHEN THE SATELLITE?S BATTERY IS NEARLY USED UP, BIOLOGISTS PLAN TO RECAPTURE THE BIRD AND REMOVE THE EQUIPMENT.
IT MAY SEEM LIKE A LOT OF TIME AND EXPENSE TO BE ABLE TO LEARN WHY SOME LOONS AREN?T RETURNING TO UMBAGOG.
BUT BIOLOGISTS FIND THE LOSS OF BREEDING LOONS PARTICULARLY TROUBLING. LOONS ARE CONSIDERED AN INDICATOR SPECIES. THEY HAVE NO NATURAL PREDATORS. A DECLINE IN THE LOON POPULATION MAY BE AN INDICATION THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE ECOSYSTEM. AND THAT?S
WHY BIOLOGISTS LIKE KATE TAYLOR WANT TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE TROUBLING SILENCE ON UMBAGOG LAKE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
TAPE KATE TAYLOR 300 it continues to be a puzzle. Putting transmitters on the birds is an exploratory idea. It?s a start.
FOR N-H-P-R NEWS, I?M DOUG MACPHERSON.
