Susan Gallo has been doing great things at Maine Audubon for Maine’s wildlife since 1998, so it was nice that her work was recognized this year with Source’s Conservation award from the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Bob Duchesne, a legislator and birding guide and writer, said it best: “Susan Gallo is one of those people that is behind the scenes and gets the work done but gets very little of the credit.”
Bob was talking about her work for bats, owls, loons, and more. “On all of those studies she is involved with,” said Bob, “she is doing much of the grunt work.”

Mary Pols wrote a good story about Susan and her work in the March 18 Maine Sunday Telegram, in which Susan praised all the wonderful Maine people she’s worked with over the years.

Susan’s work on loons has been especially important. I worked with her and Maine Audubon in 2002 to ban lead sinkers, and again in 2013 to strengthen that ban.

As Mary Pols so aptly concluded, writing about the haunting call of a loon, “Quietly, Susan Gallo has given a good portion of her career to making sure you can still hear that sound in the dark of a summer night.”

I often fall asleep at camp, listening to the call of a loon out on Sourdnahunk Lake. Thank you for that, Susan!