I return to the study area from California. I am excited to see all of my friends — loon and human! It will be an eventful first few weeks for the project. Joel Flory has been working steadily to ID mated pairs and keep me apprized of ice conditions, especially in the southern part of the study area. Kristin and Gabby came down from Northland for a weekend to help ID returning loons and covered a lot of ground. But they are both graduating this year (well….fingers crossed  ), leaving Joel and me alone to cover over 100 lakes until the end of the month. My back hurts already!