53 degrees CDT Cloudy WInd 12mph NE
Sunrise 5:26am CDT Sunset 8:57pm CDT
I haven't given you much news because there has not been much news to give. Unfortunately.
The loons still are not using the nest.
They have visited it a few times but they have not nested. 99% of the time the are away from the nest. Many times nowhere to be seen. They do show some interest in the nest. But not a lot so far.
Because of that, I still have not gotten the nest to where I was thinking about bringing it.
I have gradually pulled it in from its original spot thinking that I could gradually get them used to it being in a different place. But it is taking much longer than I had anticipated. It is possible that the movement of the nest is slowing their behavior - but truthfully I have seen no behaviors that would sugget that was the case. It seems that they are just either very slow in nesting this year or they are not going to nest at all.
This has been one very strange year.
There was an interesting incident this afternoon.
Both loons were near the nest. Not on it. Just near it.
A family of Canada geese came swimming by with 7 goslings. One of the loons dove and went after them. I don't know that he tried to stab them but he came up right next to them. One of the adult geese, I assume the male jumped and started honking and flapping his wings and the rest of the family panicked and tried to get away.
But then surprisingly, the goose took off after the loon as the loon beat a hasty retreat.
Tthe goose quickly swam/flew back to his family and the loon chased him partway.
Tthe loon did the penguin dance 6 or 7 times very excitedly. As if to say "I'm the king!" He did not make any calls. But he was definitely showing that he meant business.
Shortly after this the loons swam back out in the lake.
But there has not been much other activity on or around the nest
So as of now, there is no news of any nesting. Or eggs. Or chicks.
The clock keeps ticking.
Copyright 2013 Larry R Backlund