Catherine Smith, who lives on private Gull Pond, and ACLC Research Biologist Griffin Archambault and Wildlife Technician Leah Boget put some finishing touches on the newly installed nest raft. Photo by Denise Silfee.

Spring is the time for thawing ice and the return of loons to the Adirondacks. It is also the time for Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation (ACLC) researchers to install nest rafts after carefully considering their impacts.

Artificial nest rafts are a useful tool to help loon pairs that are struggling to hatch chicks due to chronic predation or flooding from torrential rain events. While that all sounds great, it is also true that nest rafts can actually cause problems for nesting loons.

Loons practice nesting site fidelity, which means they like to nest in the same location year to year when possible. This can make them reluctant to change their territory, even after several failed nesting attempts. While a nest raft can mitigate nest failures caused by over predation or flooding, creating more desirable nesting habitat can also increase territorial fighting between loons. When loons are too busy defending their territory, they can neglect the nests they do have.

All of these considerations have to be taken into account before ACLC researchers will agree to install a nest raft.

“Nest rafts are a form of human intervention,” said ACLC Research Biologist Griffin Archambault, “and our goal is to intervene only when it is needed. We only deploy nest rafts when we can determine that the raft really will make a difference for this pair of breeding loons.”

Installing a Nest Raft

One of the first nest rafts to be deployed this year was on Gull Pond, a private lake with no public access in Franklin County.

“The residents of Gull Pond absolutely love our loons,” said Catherine Smith, a Gull Pond homeowner. “We have been concerned about repeated nest failures due to the high water levels.”

The first time Catherine and her husband, Andy Foster, saw a nest platform, “We had no idea what it was. After attending a talk at the VIC (at Paul Smiths College) during the 2024 Adirondack Loon Celebration, we learned about nest platforms and I contacted the Loon Center to see if we qualified for one.”

After a thorough assessment, and with agreements from Gull Pond residents to monitor the raft and remove and store it for the winter season, it was determined that the loons on this pond could benefit from a nest platform.

On a sunny, frigid day in April, Griffin and ACLC Wildlife Technician Leah Boget traveled to Gull Pond to install the raft with Catherine, Andy and neighbor Cindy Merritt. Griffin showed the volunteer homeowners how to assemble the raft and attach cables to two cinder blocks that will help anchor the raft in place. Catherine brought an assortment of native plants to help make the raft look more appealing to loons.

With the three homeowners in kayaks and Griffin and Leah in a motorized Jon boat, they dragged the raft out onto the lake and chose a location near the original nest, which happened to be underwater from the recent ice-out and high snow levels this winter.

*Catherine Smith, Griffin Archambault, Leah Boget and Andy Foster, a Gull Pond homeowner, adjust the new raft. Photo by Denise Silfee.*

Catherine inquired about why this raft would not receive a avian guard, an arch of trap wire that bends over the raft and can protect the nest from predating eagles.

“We aim to tackle the primary cause of the nest failure first,” Griffin said. “Since water levels were the main cause for this nest’s failure in recent years, a raft can help remedy that right away.”

As he spoke, an eagle floated overhead.

“Loons and avian nest predators such as eagles, gulls and ravens have coevolved for millions of years,” Griffin added. “Although deploying the raft without an avian guard may make it more susceptible to avian predators, these are natural cycles. If avian predation becomes a consistent issue on the nest raft, we might add a guard later.”

Once the location of the nest raft has been decided, Griffin dropped the cinder blocks into the lake. Each block is connected to the raft by cables that have enough slack to allow the raft to rise and fall with water level changes without floating away. Then Leah emptied more dirt from a bucket onto the raft surface and arranged it to look as natural as possible.

Loons often make their nests on small tufts of earth or tiny islands in lakes, spaces that allow them to get into the water quickly if threatened, and that protect the nest from opportunistic land-based predators like raccoons and bears. The nest raft does a pretty good job of resembling this type of nest, with the benefit of being safe from sudden rises in water level.

As the group worked to situate the raft, one of the resident loons, likely the male, that had already returned cruised by as if to check out the raft.

Deciding if a nest raft is right for your lake

ACLC gets many requests for nest rafts. It is important to remember that human intervention should always be the last resort, as there are often consequences to intervention that cannot be anticipated.

To determine if a nest raft is appropriate, a few criteria need to be met:

ACLC researchers need to consider whether the lake has privately-owned shoreline in a viable location for a nest raft, and that the existing landowner is willing to host a raft. The State Lane Master Plan for the Adirondacks currently does not allow nest raft placement on public shoreline. This policy may change, but as of this writing, it is still in place.
An established loon pair needs to have consistently failed to hatch chicks due to factors that a raft can mitigate.
A volunteer network needs to be in place. That is, there needs to be people who are willing and able to deploy a raft, monitor the raft and loons in the area, and to remove it at the end of the summer and store it through the winter. This can be a single person or a group. In fact, the more people looking after the raft, the better!
ACLC researchers will assess the reasons for the nest failure and decide if a raft is indeed the proper intervention.

ACLC strongly discourages individuals from building and deploying nesting platforms on their own. One reason is that the raft design researchers use is a tried and tested one. An improperly constructed nest raft can harm loons, chicks or other animals that come into contact with the raft, or could make it appealing to other species that then compete with loons.

*Griffin Archambault tosses one of the cinder blocks that will anchor the raft in place. Photo by Denise Silfee.*

Loon nests do fail, and often, for natural reasons. It often takes newly nesting pairs a couple of seasons to perfect the art of properly incubating and protecting nests. And even successful pairs typically only hatch and fledge chicks an average of every other year. If a pair fails at their first nest, they will often re-nest one or two or, occasionally, three more times in a single summer. It is important to give loon pairs the chance to “get the hang of it,” so to speak.

In short, installing a nest raft is best done under careful consideration and guidance from a researcher who specializes in loons.

If you do think the loons on your lake could benefit from a nest raft, consider the above criteria and then contact ACLC at research@adkloon.org.

For the loons on Gull Pond, homeowners will be eagerly waiting to see if their loons like the look of the nest raft, and if they choose to utilize it this year.

“We’ve been told not to expect the loons to jump right onto the raft and start nesting,” said Catherine, “but we’re certainly hopeful that they will use it and won’t lose their nest again this year.”

Words & Images by Denise Silfee, ACLC Director of Education & Communications

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It's Nest Raft Season: All About How and When Nest Rafts Are Deployed

Installing a Nest Raft

Deciding if a nest raft is right for your lake

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