42 degrees Cloudy Wind Calm
Sunrise 6:02 am CDT Sunset 8:19 pm CDT
The loons have just been to the nest for their morning visit.
It was a short one. But a visit nonetheless.
In fact two short visits including mating for at least the 18th time.
Now we need them to make it a longer visit. Like a visit a month long. With eggs underneath them.
It is a beautiful May morning.
The lake is like a sheet of glass. The beauty of the loons. The sun just coming up peeking through a mostly cloudy sky. Spring rain is on its way.
And a female loon still on the nest quietly mewing.
What could be better?
How close is she to laying an egg? Only she seems to know. And she isn't telling us right now.
Once again, as always, we can only watch. And hope.
All in good time, I keep telling myself. All in good time.
But I can't help myself to keep from thinking 'Would you hurry up and get it over with?!'
We can be so impatient.
Loons take things as they come.
There is rain predicted here for this morning. It will probably be here in the next couple hours. Rain that we need badly.
But it should not last too long. Radar shows a relatively narrow band without any severe weather with it. All of that is very good.
The plants on the nest need the water. I have been surprised that the plants have not been growing more than they have this year. It may be because of the lack of rain plus some of the material for the roots to grow into may have washed away on some of the very windy days.
But as nice as flowers are, what we really want to see are eggs.
So once again today, keep up the watch for that first egg. The exciting time.
The first egg starts the clock running on everything else.
Once the first egg is laid, we can usually expect the second egg in 2 to 3 days. Loons normally lay 2 eggs. Sometimes only one. And on rare occasions they might lay 3 eggs. I have never seen them lay 3 eggs on the LoonCam nest in over 10 years of watching.
From the laying of the first egg, it is about 28 to 30 days for the egg to hatch. At least that has always been the 'conventional wisdom'. But with the LoonCam we have been able to add to our knowledge by being able to observe loons up close and personal. And we have been turning some conventional wisdom on its head.
We have seen the eggs hatch consistently under the 28 to 30 day time frame.
Have a wonderful May Day!
And thank you all for being such wonderful people who welcome every new visitor and share your knowledge of loons with them.
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund