Christmas Eve Loon
Background note: Loons cannot walk on land very well. Their feet are located far behind their bodies, which make them expert swimmers riding low in the water. They are divers, sometimes diving as much as 200 feet below the surface. They feed on fish, aquatic vegetation and insects and frogs. They can only get up in the air by using water and lots of it to take off and land. Because of the unusually warm weather in the north, many of the birds and waterfowl are late to migrate. The Loons were just migrating when the ice storm forced them to the ground throughout Virginia and neighboring southern states.
This story really began on Christmas Eve, a Thursday, when Pete was walking along the W and OD path in Vienna. He spotted a loon in a creek near the blacktop path. He was unable to do anything about it because it was late in the day and getting dark. Pete went away for Christmas and returned to the path on Sunday afternoon. The loon was still there, and he knew that it was stranded. Loons need about 100 feet of water to run along for take off. Pete went home and called the hotline.
Around 4 pm I received the referral from the hotline with great despair. I had been fielding many of the calls on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and had hoped the crisis was over. My husband, Keith, and I along with my 83 year old visiting mother, had taken two loons down to the lower Potomac River on Saturday morning, and the calls about downed loons seemed to have ended. It was impossible for me to go out that evening to try a rescue so I gave Pete a lot of options and hoped for the best. I knew exactly where the bird was since I had lived right near there in the early 80's when the W and OD horse and biking paths were built.	common loon in winter plumage rescued by the author and able helpers
Late on Monday afternoon Pete called the hotline again, and the volunteer referred him to me again. He reported that all his efforts to get the bird had failed, no one was able to help him, and the bird had actually moved further down stream to a pool of water about ten feet across and four feet deep.
Without even consulting Keith I promised Pete that we would go over to Vienna first thing on Tuesday morning. How hard could it be to get a loon out of this pool and put it on open water? Keith and our two daughters have spent alot of time camping in the Boundary Waters in Canada . They have seen loons nesting there , and Keith belongs to the North American Loon Fund. I knew that he would want to help with this one.
At 7:30 AM we set off with two fishing nets to find the bird. It was exactly where we had been told to look for it, about one half mile from the parking lot at Clarks Crossing Road and below the wooden bridge. It was a gray , cold morning and various joggers and bikers gave us questioning looks. Without a really good plan we both plunged into the water with out nets thinking we could get the bird. Fat chance. That bird swam like a bullet under the water, back and forth , easily avoiding capture. It was hopeless because both of us had on Wellington boots which quickly filled with frigid water, and our jeans were soaked, and we were risking frost bite. We had to leave and come up with a better plan.
By now it was about 8:30 AM , and I called our son-in-law in McLean (from my trusty cell phone as I walked back to the car) trying to catch him before he left for work in Reston. Luck was with us. He was just leaving and would meet us on Route 7 with his fantastic fishing waders. “Tell your boss it is your mother-in-law who made you late for your 9 am meeting.”
We got that equipment and returned home to Great Falls to change into dry clothes. We loaded up the car with other possible aids, and rushed back over to Vienna. Another stroke of luck: as we pulled into the parking lot, a Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority maintenance truck was on the path. We flagged the driver. explained our dilemma, and the four workers offered to assist. We put all our gear into the back of the truck and got a ride down to the site.
We had an old string hammock to use like a net across the creek, and large wooden framed screen, the fishing nets, a carrier and towels. Keith was suited up in the waders, and I had on an old pair of cheap rubber pants.
The idea was to drive the loon up into the shallow part of the creek, block its way back into the deep pool, and net him. I went into the water holding one end of the hammock, one of the park workers held the other end, and Keith went into the deep pool. We missed on the first try, but not by much. Again, luck was there. Keith was able to net the bird as he was attempting the second time to drive it towards the hammock.
We all cheered and exited the water. Keith was totally dry, I was soaked again, and the Park workers, Michael, Guardson, Matthew, and John, were in disbelief. We all had a good look at the loon, and Keith and I gave them more information on loons so they could understand why we would go to such lengths for a bird. We loaded up all the gear and rode back to our car. It turns out that one of the workers had rescued a baby bluejay last year and had found help through our hotline.
From the car, on our way directly to the lower Potomac River, I called Pete at work to report our success. If he had not gone back on that Monday, who knows what may have happened to the bird. The pool the bird had moved into was out of sight of any trail, and there is now way it would ever have been able to take off from such a small area.
In some ways I feel privileged to have had these loon encounters. To hear the plaintive cry of the loon, as in On Golden Pond, and see these beautiful creatures swim and dive as your release them onto open water makes this all worth the effort. I guess that is why we are all involved in wildlife rescue...