60 degrees F Cloudy Wind Calm
6:16 pm CDT Sunrise 8:17 pm CDT Sunset
I think all of are still reeling at the loss of our LoonCam male loon.
I still find it difficult to comprehend that it has happened.
We know that things like this happen in life. But too many times we have a pollyannish and unrealistic view of nature.
Hopefully we can at some point find out what happened to our male loon.
I took his body to the DNR.
Right now it is at or on its way to a large necropsy lab over in Wisconsin for study.
Carroll Henderson, who I appreciate so much, has said that there is a very good chance that they will be able to determine the cause of death. And also tell us a lot more about him. Mercury levels, lead levels, if there has been any Gulf Oil contamination and a host of other things.
But he cautioned that it could be well into next year before we will find out any of those answers.
So let's hope that they are able to give us some answers of what happened.
I also wanted to let you know about the chick and the female.
After I had retrieved the loon, I went out on the lake specifically to look for the chick and the female.
I found them and they seemed to be doing well.
I was a little surprised at how close the chick was staying to the female. Almost right up against her.
Whether that has anything to do with what happened to the male I cannot say. But it sure made me wonder.
Normally the chick ventures further and further from the adults when they reach this age. And I have seen that over and over during the last few weeks. The chick would be in the same general area of the lake as the adults but would be far from them.
But that night at least, the chick seemed to be determined to never be more than a few inches away from his mother. It was an interesting thing to see.
The main thing for you to know is that both the chick and the female seem to be healthy, active and doing well.
Let us hope that both of them continue to do well and safely make the trip down to the Gulf.
And then next spring we will see if she returns to the nest.
It will be interesting and educational to say the least.
Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund