61 degrees F Clear Wind Calm
Sunrise 5:39 am Sunset 8:39 pm CDT
What a beautiful day!
This whole week is forecast to be in the 70s all week long. And after this long winter, Minnesotans cannot wait to get back to 'typical' weather, whatever that is.
For our loons, it is a mixed blessing. None of the severe cold that we have had. Although loons do not seem to mind the cold. But there is no prediction of severe weather either. Which is a very good thing. Just some rain predicted for tomorrow.
But with the warmer weather, you will probably see the loons panting as they sit on the nest in the sun. And you will probably see more black flies flying around their head and bothering them.
Some of you who were viewing tonight (and last night) saw something new.
Shortly before 10 pm tonight, you saw some bright lights illuminate the nest - or at least I assume it did. I don't know for sure because I was down by the lake with the neighbors.
What you saw is a boat of carp fishermen. They are bow fishing with a bow and arrows. They have huge banks of lights on the boat that light up the water all around them. When they see a carp, they are able to shoot at it with their bows and arrows. The arrows have a line attached to them that they then use to reel the carp in after they have shot it.
This is something that is fairly new around here within the last few years.
I stayed down by the lake to make sure that they went around the nest and stayed outside the buoys.
But I am so glad to see from some of the comments of those of you watching at the time that the loon on the nest did not seem to be alarmed nor did he leave the nest. That had been a big question of mine of how the loon would react.
The lights were so bright that I could not see what the loon was doing.
The lights light up the whole shoreline almost like day.
I will be interested to actually watch it on the camera to see how the loon reacts.
If it had been the female, I think she would have been off the nest quickly.
I am also a little concerned of what the lights may do to the camera. The picture seems to be darker than normal when I came back up to the house.
I am sure we will see the fishermen again. This form of carp fishing is beginning to be more and more popular.
What little personal contact I have had with some of them, they seem to be very considerate and respectful.
It is an age old conundrum.
How do you balance everyone's rights and interests?
Loon lovers want lakes to be wild and pristine and quiet for our loons.
Fishermen want lakes just for fishing.
Water skiiers want to be able to ski anywhere, anytime.
And on and on the self interests go.
We all want what 'we' want and sometimes we forget everyone else.
That is why we put buoys around the loon nest to remind people that they should not be approaching a nest while the loons are nesting. But other people have a right to use the lake as well. And so we put the buoys at a reasonable distance, not too far out, without infringing on other people's rights.
One of the really good things is that in all these years of doing this, I have yet to see anyone do anything that was actually malicious or with an intent to do harm or damage.
I have seen people do some dumb things. But not malicious things.
It is also the reason why we do not talk about the location of the camera.
Like many of us, sometimes we love our loons too much. And so when we are out on a lake and see a loon or especially a loon nest, we want to get as close as we can and see them in closeup.
That is one of the beautiful things about the LoonCam.
We can see the loons VERY close. And we don't disturb them in any way. We can observe behavior on the LoonCam that we could NEVER see in the wild, even if we were the most capable biologist around.
So enjoy the LoonCam to the fullest.
And don't forget to use it as a teaching tool for your kids and grandkids.
Questions or Comments? LoonCam (at) yahoo (dot) com
Copyright 2014 Larry R Backlund