Last night, Susan Gallo received her Source Sustainability Award, presented to her by the Portland Press Herald in recognition of her leadership of Maine Audubon’s annual Loon Count.
From the Press Herald‘s original story:
Every year, in early summer, hundreds of Mainers head out onto lakes all across the southern part of the state. Their mission is to count loons. They lean out of kayaks, pause in their canoes and pull out binoculars to see if that is one little chick that mother loon has, or two bunched up together. Last July, 1,400 people participated in the annual count. They found just over 2,800 adult loons and 453 chicks.
Two things made them do it: the love of loons and the leadership of Maine Audubon’s Susan Gallo, the Source Award winner in the category of Conservationist. She’s been doing this job for 20 of the 35 years the count has been going on, and those in the birding and conservation world want her praises sung.
Read the full story (and check out George Smith’s nice write-up of this honor in the Bangor Daily News).
Here’s a portion of Susan’s remarks on accepting the award:
Thank you to the Press Herald for a wonderful event, and for recognizing Susan’s great work! If you want to learn more about the Loon Count or get involved as a volunteer, visit our Loon Count page.
