49 degrees
On a chilly evening, we are in the process of passing one of the biggest hurdles with this year's LoonCam!
No, it isn't that the first egg was finally laid this morning.
Nor is it that the wind is still blowing...when it should know to quieten down at this time of night. Frankly, I am getting tired of the wind. One front after another passing through. And even the possibility of some SNOW flurries late in the week! That is not funny. But I guess we are not the only part of the country having to deal with it.
No, the biggest hurdle is the night vision!!
As I mentioned to you before, it was a question in my mind....whether loons had enough vision in the infrared range that the infrared light source that allows you to see in total darkness would bother them.
I never could find any definitive information in any of the research about whether loons had infrared vision.
I didn't think it would be a problem or we would never have tried it. But the nagging question was still there.
And now fully 30 minutes into complete darkness, she is still on the nest....seemingly unconcerned and unperturbed. Sitting on today's egg as solid as can be. So I think we are home free with the night vision camera. If it had been bothering her, I think she would have been off the nest by now.
Unfortunately, if it had bothered her, that would have been VERY serious because there is no way I could have allowed the cam to continue. We would have had to turn it off!! It isn't as if we can just turn off the night vision by flipping a switch. The only way to do it would be to go down, take the camera apart and rewire it to disable the night vision. And that ain't gonna happen as long as she is on the nest.
We could shut the whole site down at night but then you would not be able to enjoy the new night view or the sounds at all and there is a question if we would be able to successfully power everything up every morning without glitches.
Ok, that is way more than you wanted to know!
But just know that it seems to be working without bothering her and that means I sleep a LOT better tonight!!
Enjoy this stunning close up view of a loon on a nest in the middle of the night!! Very few people in history have ever seen something like this! And you are one of them!!