Every year there are Loons on the Goodnow Flow – the private dammed up lake underpinning a lakeside subdivision in Newcomb NY, ‘the heart of the Adirondacks’.
Click any of the videos for a full screen view (from YouTube). Click images to get bigger pictures in ‘lightboxes’.
Loons: Annual lake visitors to the Goodnow Flow subdivision, Newcomb NY
For the past few years I’ve been seeing a pair and a singleton. I know there were a minimum of the one pair and the singleton in 2022 since I sometimes saw three hanging out together.
Getting good shots from lakeside at the Goodnow Flow
I had to buy a big lens for my D3400 Nikon DSLR to get decent shots of the loons out on the main expanse of the lake. The Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 lens cost about 3x more than the D3400 camera bought used. Even then the shots out across the lake (little bits cut from 12 megapixels images) are only good for online stuff, not for wall art. Click on images to see full size versions.
Storm warning? – fishing the bay at a Newcomb lake
The better shots, still and video, are when the loons drift into the main bay by my cabin. Thats either because the mood takes them or maybe there is bad weather coming in. Sometimes it means shooting in the rain and the light can be bad, but the loons don’t seem to care if I’m at the shore line – in contrast to most critters which would fly off or swim away.
Goodnow Flow Loons up close: IP streaming camera
Generally, my IP cameras don’t photograph the Loons well, even for the units at the water’s edge. Most of my streaming cameras don’t zoom and I’d have to be watching the software live to change the zoom in the Reolink RLC-511 units that can. This past season I had a camera looking out over the small bay where a stream enters the Flow. One morning a pair of loons came to visit. Its shallow most everywhere in that area and the water weed is good habitat even if we Lot owners generally prefer open water. Skip in to ~30 seconds, and go full frame, to see the loons at their closest to the camera.
Loons with Water-Lily by my Goodnow Flow cabin
On a couple of days, a loon was hanging out around a Lily clump. I suspect that again the weeds provide habitat for fish and other critters. That or I’m underestimating Loon esthetics.
Canoeing with Newcomb Adirondack Loons
I was out on the lake and a Loon pair was around, not my best camera (a small Olympus where the zoom has failed – I don’t want to risk dunking a better unit in the lake). They seemed unaffected by me being out there.
I’ve seen pontoon boats running into areas where the loons were fishing and again they didn’t seem fazed, even as I flinched. I’ve kept away from areas where the loons are nesting.
Loons wailing at the Flow
The loon ‘conversations’ are as noticeable as the loons themselves. I have some clips with Loon calls – not the best since I just grab the nearest camera when they start wailing. One is in daylight, the others at night (those are the black tracks!). Check out this link from the Cornell Ornithology lab for more on Loon vocalization. Loons along with Coyotes, and spring bullfrogs, provide the night time Adirondack soundtrack.
Goodnow Flow: A designated Loon-friendly lake
The Flow has signed up with the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation as a Loon friendly lake. I understand, from oral presentations at the 1/7/23 GFA board meeting, that David Dorey made the initial donations to get things rolling but its now under the control of the association board from which all legitimate things must Flow. One measure is the introduction of nesting rafts for the coming season and there seems to be a tie-in to SUNY ESF with a student slated to stop by for regular observations. The Loon center got a cash infusion from funds settling a coastal (loon wintering site) oil spill case.