Well, even with the extra week it is obvious that the loons are not going to nest on the LoonCam nest this year.
As disappointing as that is, it is the reality of nature and the unpredictability of nature.
We knew going into this season that it was going to be 'different' because of the death of last year's male. We just did not know what the difference would be.
Now we know.
This is only the second time in well over 10 years that this nest has not been used. The first year it was not used was in 2013 when we had a change of mates.
The encouraging part is that we have at least two loons that are interested in the nest. Probably the female from last year and the female from 4 years ago.
But one does not have a mate and the other one seems to have a mate that is not ready to nest yet. Or at least to get up on the nest.
But it means that next year we will also probably have a very interesting year. Which one of the loons who feels some ownership will be the one that will prevail? We will probably have some very interesting confrontations.
So that is something you can think about over the winter and wonder what next year will bring!
The other good news is that the other pair of loons on the nest is nesting. Let's hope that they have a successful hatch in the next week or so.
What I found especially encouraging is that they found a new nesting area that is out of the line of boat traffic and the constant disruption. That should improve their chances of successfully hatching their egg(s).
So ...... it is time to face reality and shut down the camera for this year.
And let the humans have use of their property on the lake.
I will plan on letting you still view the LoonCam tomorrow and then maybe plan on shutting it off as we hit nightfall tomorrow night.
THANK YOU ALL for your interest and kind words of support and encouragement. You are the BEST! And this has become an amazing community of "loonatics"!
I will update you once in a while over the next year.
And then we will plan on meeting up again next spring and all becoming very sleep deprived!!
God Bless!
Questions or comments? Email us at LoonCam at yahoo dot com. Because of the volume of email I will not be able to respond personally to each email. But I will eventually read every one and for recurring questions I will try to answer them here in this blog.
Copyright 2016 Larry R Backlund