This year marks the 25th year of Maine Audubon’s Loon Project, and the Portland Water District seeks volunteers to participate in the Sebago Lake count Saturday, July 19.

Volunteers will be assigned an area of the lake to observe between 7-7:30 a.m. July 19, rain or shine. Volunteers may also observe during the week before and after the count date, counting chicks, adults, and nests.

The data will be sent to the Portland Water District. The results will be tabulated and released later in the year and is part of the project that produces an estimate of the loon population in the southern half of the state. Last summer, numbers of southern Maine loon chicks increased 200 percent over

the previous year.

Become a citizen scientist for a day and help discover if those chicks survived the harsh winter to reverse the downward trend in numbers of observed adults. For more information or to volunteer, e-mail sebagolake@pwd.org or call 774-5961, ext. 3324.