43 degrees Rain Wind Calm
Sunrise 6:56 am CDT Sunset 7:39 pm CDT
It is a cloudy, rainy, hazy day.
A haze lies over a quiet northern lake. Shorelines are reflected in muted grays and browns on the surface of the water.
There are seagulls but no loons in sight.
After I posted last Thursday, I did see one loon on the lake on Friday morning. It was out in the middle of the lake and was no where near the nesting area. So was it one of "our loons"? There is no way to tell without an opportunity to see if it has bands or not.
After the ice went out of the lake, I was 'up north' for a Missions Conference for a week. All the lakes in the furthest northern reaches of the state and into Canada were still totally covered with ice. So obviously no loons could make it that far north yet.
In fact, the area up there had well over a foot of snow during the week.
There was no internet access or cell phone service in the area where we were so I was totally out of touch. When I got home I found out that there had been a death in the family and I was asked if I would do the funeral. So it was repacking quick and then heading up to another part of northern Minnesota.
But just before I left on Friday morning I did see the one loon here. So at least one loon was back - or at least 'passing through'. Since I got home from the funeral a couple days ago, I have not seen or heard any loons.
So we are 'close'. But we are not there yet.
Yesterday I worked on the nest and all the technical stuff to get the LoonCam connected. And this morning I have been working with the good folks and technical wizards at BroadbandMN to do more of the many things that must work to bring you the LoonCam pictures.
And I have good news!
With relatively few problems, the camera is working and we have pictures coming from it! We are not live yet but that is a major step forward. There is still a lot more work to be done.
If I get a break in the rain today and tomorrow, I will try to do more work on building the nest itself and more work on the LoonCam and the infrared light. And then hopefully I will be able to put the nest in the water and check once again to make sure everything is working.
When all of that is done, we will once again be able to go live with the LoonCam!
Let your friends and family and teachers know. Spread the word on facebook and twitter and all the other social sites.
It is almost LOON TIME!
Copyright 2016 Larry R Backlund