ANDOVER — Happy spring! The ice went out on Highland Lake either very late on April 4 or early April 5. Broken ice often floats along the shore of the public beach and mouth of the channel for hours before disappearing. I usually call it “ice out” when the lake is open from the east side to the west side, north and south of the island.

Our mating geese arrived a week or more before the channel was free of ice. The Mergansers arrived around the same time.

On March 20, we saw evidence of the eagle’s nest being rebuilt and on April 2, I was able to confirm that an adult eagle was sitting in the nest. I certainly could be off by several days as to when they first started sitting on the nest. Their incubation period is 34–36 days.

May 8 marks 36 days since I was able to confirm that both eagles were seen tending the nest. I read that the eaglets are usually 5–6 weeks old before they are able to peek over the nest.

Alex Estin confirmed seeing an adult loon on April 6. Our loons usually arrive within a day of ice-out so he was right on time!

Beth Frost has seen five or more loons on the lake this week. Loons do travel around to various lakes in their territories. Young adult loons who have not yet paired up with a mate are also seen flying and swimming in groups. 

Our mating pair will hopefully get down to the business of nesting soon. They did not have a successful nest last year. It will be interesting to watch them, in light of the presence of an eagles’ nest, yet again, this year! 

The “semi-albino,” accurately called a leucistic, Red-tailed Hawk that I wrote about last year, was seen near Continental Machine in April. It has a mate with the typical plumage and has been returning to East Andover for several years. It is quite striking to see! 

As the summer season rolls in, I hope we see the return of the Great Blue Herons, the Kingfishers and, perhaps, the Great White Egret, which graced us with its presence last summer. 

People who would like to stay informed about what we are seeing on Highland Lake may do so by joining LOON NEWS, a group email. We encourage people to report their sightings and share their photos with this group. Contact me at donnabh@nulltds.net to get on board.