The loon has just returned to the nest.
Much has happened since my blog earlier this morning. Although I guess it is only an hour ago. It seems MUCH longer than that.
Shortly after I finished my blog, the loon on the nest left about 5:46am.
There are some calls. I go down to the lake to see what is going on.
I am surprised to see five loons - yes, you read that right, FIVE loons - all the way across the lake swimming and circling and diving. Then one of the loons takes flight and flies away from the lake. To where? One can only guess. Or is it just a desire to exercise its wings?
Then among the remaining loons, a chase breaks out between two of them.
Which loons are 'ours'? Which ones are others? Who is who? It is impossible to tell.
But right now one loon is chasing another across the surface of the water.
This is a full blown chase. Not just one loon trying to escape from another.
Both loons are rowing/paddling as fast as they can across the surface of the water. Not swimming. Not flying. But that strange combination in between where they never leave the surface of the water as the zip across the surface at breakneck speed, as fast as they can go.
When one loon stops and nervously peers under the surface of the water, he suddenly is off again as the chasing loon appears right next to him or surfaces right under him.
Off they go with tremolos ringing across the lake.
This chase goes on and on, with only short breaks, as the chase covers a good area of the surface of the lake.
It seems like it will never stop.
Chase. Stop momentarily. Peer underwater. Spot the chaser right next to you. And take off again, with the chaser in full pursuit.
Which one is which? Once again, it is impossible to tell.
I assume - but it can be only an assumption - that the chasing loon is one of ours since this part of the lake is 'their territory'. But it is impossible to tell who is who. We can only watch and try to understand.
This goes on for a full 35 minutes. I have totally lost track of where the other two loons went. I do not see them anywhere.
Two loons come back to the general area of the nest. Then suddenly there is a short chase (or escape) of one of those loons. I still don't know who is who. They are the only two loons I see now.
But after that very short chase, one of the loons comes back and swims next to the nest for a couple minutes before it gets back up on the nest at 6:29am. It turns the eggs and settles down on them. It has been a long 45 minutes with a lot of activity.
Now would you please stay on the eggs?!