Perhaps the loons were betting on this winter finishing the way it started - warm. Unfortunately, they bet against the odds.

Twenty-two loons were found stranded on the ice on Lake Winnipesaukee on Saturday and Sunday in the broadest part of the lake, near Rattlesnake Island. Five were alive and were transported to the Seacoast for release in the open ocean, where they normally spend the winter months. The other 17 died.

Some were scavenged by predators. Others froze on the ice while wind blew snow over their bodies, until only tufts of feathers and the smooth tops of their heads were visible.

Loons are listed as a threatened species in New Hampshire. For the biologists who dedicate their careers to researching and protecting the beloved birds, losing almost 4 percent of the state's population at once was a tragedy. It was also a big mystery.

"They should have known better," said Harry Vogel, executive director of the Loon Preservation Committee. "They should have been gone."

Loons need open water to survive and normally leave inland lakes before they freeze over. New Hampshire's loons winter in the Atlantic Ocean, along the coast from Maine to Rhode Island. Every year, one or two juveniles are found frozen on Lake Winnipesaukee, unable to make the migration because they aren't strong enough or lack the instinct to move, Vogel said. All of the loons found last weekend were adults and would have migrated in past years.

The fact that the loons were traveling in a large group was also unusual. The territorial birds nest in pairs. Vogel said researchers aren't sure if they spend winter alone or stick with their mates. But they don't migrate in flocks.

On Saturday afternoon, Vogel received a report from a Fish and Game conservation officer that five birds were stuck on the ice. Four were found alive. Vogel and volunteer Danielle Paquette of Meredith picked up the surviving birds from Marine Patrol headquarters and carried them in plastic bins and cardboard boxes to the ocean.

Vogel figured the birds could have mistaken the black ice where they were found for open water and tried to land there. But since the front-heavy loons need a quarter-mile of open water to take flight, they couldn't take flight again from the ice.

"What we didn't know is, was there was a bunch more loons out there?" Vogel said.

Judy Ellis of Gilford had been riding with her husband and a friend on Saturday when she came across a series of bumps in the snow. She noticed the feathers and thought that the birds might by cormorants. Ellis, who has pet parrots, hurried to find help. She said she tried Fish and Game, the Audubon Society of New Hampshire and the Loon Preservation Committee but couldn't get in touch with anyone who would help that night.

She was frustrated, too, by several snowmobile tracks running past the site.

"I can't believe people would snowmobile by these birds," she said. "It was just awful, just horrible."

Ellis returned the next morning with a can of smelts. She found one bird still alive. She and her husband fed it and wrapped it in a blanket. Her husband carried the bird to land in his lap. During the trip, the loon let out one of its notoriously ghostly calls.

Ellis said she finally reached someone at the Audubon Society who helped her get in touch with animal rehabilitator Maria Colby, who transferred the bird to the ocean.

Meanwhile, word had reached Vogel that there were 17 more birds on the ice. With help from volunteers and another biologist, he retrieved the carcasses.

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