PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 8, 2025
John Picone was skating alone on East Pond in Smithfield just after noon Sunday when he passed a rock outcropping known as Loon Island. He spotted a loon stuck in a tiny pool of water surrounded by ice about 800 feet from shore. Picone is a member of a group of skaters who watch ice conditions and share information about good places to skate. He was clad in a dry suit and helmet and armed with safety gear to use for traction if he fell through the ice. Picone skated toward the loon and spoke gently to it, hoping to soothe and calm it. He sat with the loon for some time so it began to trust him. Ann Dorney, also a retired Skowhegan doctor and Avian Haven transport volunteer, soon arrived. “She scooped it into her basket.” Avian Haven staff suspect that the loon was in a late-molting state, in which it couldn’t get its feathers for flying before being iced-in. In the last two days, three loons had been rescued from Pleasant Pond in Turner.