It is easy for me to say, I suppose, because I am sitting here in southern California in my shorts and t-shirt, wondering only if we have enough lemonade to survive the day (and enough water to make lemonade)! Still, I think most of us can agree that the season is beginning to turn. This week’s highs in Oneida County will be in the 60s, which should take care of most or all of the remaining ice on the lakes, especially with the help of the wind. After a rather brutal winter, we have an ice-out that is about a week earlier than average. Early iceout created an odd spectacle on many lakes this week past: open water devoid of loons. To be sure, breeding pairs are trickling back. Joel Flory has confirmed that both members of the breeding pair on Manson Lake have returned. Lake residents have spotted a pair on Lake Mildred and one of two pair members on Sherry. Linda Grenzer reports that “Clune”, the male on Muskellunge Lake, returned on Friday for the first time, although his long-time mate, “Honey”, has not shown up, and he is currently frolicking with a new female (see Linda’s photo, above) that we banded as a chick in 2004 on Soo Lake, Linda reports. (We are not judging!) Why would territory owners leave their lakes undefended, especially at a time when many adult loons without territories are on the prowl, anxious to seize any vacant lake? The answer is simple. Weather changes rapidly. As migrants that must fly hundreds of miles between the wintering and breeding grounds, loons face a meteorological puzzle. If they molt their feathers and migrate too early to the breeding grounds, they will encounter wintry conditions and uninhabitable frozen lakes on arrival, struggle to find enough food on open water along rivers, and ultimately settle on their breeding lake in poor condition. They will then be at risk for losing their territory to a fitter, stronger usurper who times his or her arrival better and remains in better condition. If, on the other hand, they wait too long to migrate, they might return to find a squatter established on their territory. In such cases, a territory owner would have to battle the squatter to reassert itself as owner. In short, gauging when to return to the lake you own is an inexact business for a territorial loon. We can understand why they might often arrive a bit too early or too late. So we must be sympathetic about the pitfalls of long-term planning and content with a steady trickle of returning loons. Don’t worry. Territorial loons have evolved a sound set of strategies for coping with fluctuating weather conditions — and interlopers. We expect to see most of them re-established on territories within a week. I will keep you posted!