67 degrees Cloudy Wind Calm
Sunrise 5:41 am CDT Sunset 8:39 pm CDT
Late last night was one of the strangest nights I have ever seen on the nest.
Around midnight there were some yodels and other calls from way out on the lake.
The male on the nest answered with 6 repeated yodels but he never left the nest.
I have never observed a male yodeling repeatedly from the nest but never leaving.
Then things quieted down for about 25 minutes.
Then once again the male loon on the nest yodeled several more times. Until he finally left the nest and swam off toward the calls coming from somewhere distant out on the lake.
It started to rain heavily. And the eggs lay exposed to the rain.
But then a few minutes later, a loon got up on the edge of the nesting platform. It did not get up on the nest or cover the eggs. It just sat and looked around for a minute or so and then got back in the water.
Was it our loon? Was it an intruder? I could not get a look to see if it had bands.
I must say it had a creepy feel as if a burglar was casing the joint. It may have been one of "our loons". But why did they not get up on the nest?
There were more repeated wails and tremolos from out on the lake. Many of them.
But no sign of our loons returning to the nest or to cover the eggs. At least the heavy rain had stopped after just a few minutes.
After 33 minutes off the eggs, one of the loons gets up on the nest, rolls the eggs and settles down. It is very hard to tell in the dark but I think it may be the female. This is also unusual because she normally has not take a shift over night.
Once again, when you think you have seen everything, something totally new happens.
Right now, the lake is like a sheet of glass.
Frogs are singing and the birds are waking up.
The forecast for today is for more rain and possible thunderstorms. But hopefully there will not be any severe weather.
Last night there were 9 tornadoes in western Minnesota. But thankfully I have not heard any reports of severe damage or injury.
After today, the weather is supposed to turn much colder. With even the possibility of the temperature dropping close to freezing tomorrow morning and Tuesday morning.
Welcome to Minnesota - The Theater of Seasons!
Let's hope that in today's "play", it will be a quiet and calm one for our loons!
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund