Minnesota DNR Looking For Volunteer Loon Watchers

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is looking for outdoor enthusiasts for the Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program.  It's a a great way to get outdoors and provide useful information.

The DNR says that loons are good indicators of water quality because they need clean, clear water to catch food.  Seeing the number of loons on lakes can be an indicator of issues in different parts of the state.

If you'd like to help, here is what the loon monitoring program entails:

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.

Click here to view the full Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program brochure and follow the link below to volunteer.