It has been a rough winter season for many outdoor activities in New Hampshire, but a below-average snowpack is hitting the snowmobile industry especially hard.

The openings were left after ice-in started during a cold snap, but didn’t quite finish in the deepest parts of the lake, about a quarter of a mile off shore. The two loons were stuck and unable to take off, because common loons require a water “runway” to push off and get airborne. Farther up the lake, three other loons were stuck in similar fashion.

It had to be one of the strangest cases of eagle death that Danielle D'Auria has ever seen.