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WESTPORT — A common loon found stranded on Cape Cod was released back into the wild last week from Gooseberry Island in Westport.

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Rehabbed Loon is Released

Photos by Richard W Dionne Jr A rehabilitated loon was released at Gooseberry Point in Westport last week. A common loon found stranded on Cape Cod was released back into the wild last week from Gooseberry Island in Westport. The water bird was found in a back yard, said Lauren Miller-Donnelly, property manager of Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary.

The water bird was found in a back yard, said Lauren Miller-Donnelly, property manager of Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary.

“Once they land on the ground they can’t take off,” she said of loons and some other water birds.

It was taken to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton by the Barnstable Humane Society, where it resided with other birds and was tested for disease, said Tufts volunteer Kathy Briscoe.

It turned out that the bird was healthy, although fishing hooks were found in its body and its lead levels were high, she said.

The bird’s gender was not checked to minimize stress, she said, but it did have to prove that it could successfully dive and hunt in the freshwater pool at the facility before it was released.

Tufts contacted the Massachusetts Audubon Society to set up a release and the Audubon suggested the Buzzard’s Bay area, where loons are known to winter, said Ms. Miller-Donnelly.

The loon made the hour and a half drive from Tufts with Ms. Briscoe on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

It rode in a carrier with netting along the bottom, taking pressure off the loon’s feet which are not accustomed to hard surfaces, said Ms. Briscoe.

The release was initially going to take place at East Beach, but rough waves against the rocks there led to the loon, Ms. Briscoe, Ms. Miller-Donnelly, and Allens Pond Director Gina Purtell heading down the road to the calmer, more sandy Gooseberry Island beach instead.

It did not take long once the carrier’s top was taken off for the loon to dart toward the water, letting out a call as it went.

It floated on the water for some time, drinking and stretching its wings, although it did not dive right away.

Nearby a red-throated loon also bobbed in the water.

Ms. Miller-Donnelly said that this was the first loon release here since she began at the sanctuary, but cormorants are released in Westport once in awhile.

The cormorants land in the Horseneck Beach parking lot sometimes after rain, believing it to be the water and getting stuck, she said.