65 degrees F Scattered Rain Wind 6 mph E
Sunrise 5:26 am CDT Sunset 8:58 pm CDT
Today has been a very good day.
The loons came back!
All four of them. Both adults and BOTH chicks.
They have spent the entire day in the area of the nest, usually hanging out right at the buoys that surround the nesting area.
Why they disappeared for a few days, I don't know. Where they went, I don't know.
But now they are back and that is the most important thing and the best thing.
Like I mentioned before, I was gone most of Saturday and Sunday so I didn't have a chance to look for them with binoculars until evening. What concerned me the most was that one of the other people on the lake said they had gone around the entire lake actually looking for them and saw no loons at all. That is when my heart sank.
Whether they were hiding in the weeds. Or whether they made their way into one of the channels off the lake will probably be something we never know.
Today someone else said on Sunday they saw the loons and the chicks on Sunday on the other side of the lake from where I spotted them last night. So they really ranged far and wide in these few days. She said there was so much boat traffic on the lake that she was very concerned that a fast boat would hit the chicks.
After all, they cannot dive at all at this age. Or dive deep enough to get away from a boat bearing down on them. That is a very good reason for you to share with your boating family and friends to be on the lookout for little loon chicks.
I guess we could speculate and guess endlessly of where they went and why, but the important thing is that they are back.
And today they seemed very content just to stay here in the area of the nest.
And I was very content as well to have them back and to know that they were ok. Healthy and active.
In the 3 /1 days since I saw them, they have grown SO much. In my field notes that I keep, I made the note that it looks like they are at least THREE TIMES as big as they were when they left the nest on Saturday morning!
Obviously they must have good appetites and they must be getting fed very well.
The chicks are totally dependent on the parents for their food for the first number of weeks of their lives.
I may delay shutting down the camera for a few days now that they have come back to the nesting area. I hope that you will get a glimpse of them now and then. I don't want to raise your hopes unnecessarily because the glimpses will still be few and far between. But hopefully you will see them.
But today you can rest assured that our two little loons are alive, very active and doing well.
And that is the whole reason we have ridden this roller coaster of emotions, isn't it?
Copyright 2017 Larry R Backlund