HOLDERNESS, N.H. — Navigating her boat toward a wooden platform floating in an idyllic New Hampshire lake where “On Golden Pond” was filmed, biologist Tiffany Grade spotted what she had feared.
An olive brown loon’s egg with black speckles was sitting on an nest, abandoned by its parents and with no chance to hatch. Gently scooping it up with gloved hands, Grade placed the egg in a zip lock bag and packed it into a cooler.
The egg was sent to a lab in Canada to test for chemicals including Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that have been found in other Squam Lake loon eggs, the fish there and a tributary of the lake.
Grade is investigating the potential link between PCBs and population declines of the fish-eating birds known for their sharp beaks, black and white speckled backs, iridescent greenish heads and haunting calls.