50 degrees Rain Wind 8 mph NE
Sunrise 5:49 am CDT Sunset 8:30 pm CDT
Today has been a chilly rainy day, with more predicted over the next few days.
The forecast is predicting that we may get an inch or two of rain in the next couple days. That moisture will be very welcome. The plants on the nest have already started to perk up from some of the rain that we have already had. They had been looking pretty bleak.
But we will take this rain compared to the heavy snow in the Black Hills and Denver, the tornadoes in Texas or the tropical storms in the Carolinas. (Although the forecasters have said that we should not be surprised to maybe see 'a flake or two of snow' by Tuesday morning!)
The average date of the last frost in the Twin Cities is today, May 10th. Here at "Loon Lake", it is closer to May 20th. So it is still possible to get frost and too early to put out tender plants. In fact my father used to talk about he remembered seeing snow flurries on the Fourth of July one year!
If we had temperatures in the 50s back in January, we Minnesotans would be out sitting in our lawn chairs wearing shorts. Now we are bundled up like Floridians! Compared to the sun and warmth of a few days ago, it feels cold. Just another act in the Theater of Seasons.
But the loons are more comfortable in this kind of weather than in the heat or hot sun beating down on them.
This pair of loons really seems to be maturing.
The female has been less likely to bolt off the nest at the slightest thing. And the nest exchanges have been much more smooth than in the past. And the loons have been very faithful in incubating those precious eggs.
The conventional wisdom and belief is that it takes 28 days for the eggs to incubate. Some estimates have even gone as high as 32 days, although I personally believe that is way too long.
Through the miracle of the LoonCam and by being able to know exactly when eggs were laid and to know within a few hours of when the chicks hatch, we have been rewriting the conventional wisdom of what has been believed about loons. Not only on incubation time but a number of other things as well.
We have consistently seen hatches that have been less than 28 days.
IF I had to make a prediction, I would predict that we will see a hatch of these eggs somewhere the last day or two of May or the first day or two of June. Even more precise, I would predict hatching on Sunday, May 31 and/or Monday, June 1. But that is a very long and tenuous limb I am on out on with that prediction.
Once again we can only watch and wait.
We are not in control.
Something or some One much bigger than us are in control.
Enjoy the drama of watching and waiting for our little chicks. And all the drama and twists and turns that inevitably will come in the meantime.
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund