66 degrees F CDT Hazy Smoke Wind Calm
Sunrise 5:28 am CDT Sunset 8:52 pm CDT
15 hours 23 minutes of daylight
Today was a very nice and warm day. There was a feeling of summer finally. Thank you, SIMON!
It was up in the 80s here at Loon Lake today and will be that or even warmer tomorrow.
But the sky was a little hazy because of smoke from forest fires up in Canada.
With the warmer weather came a lot more traffic and activity on the lake. Numbers of young people, who apparently are already done with school, were enjoying their time on the lake. Having fun. Relaxing. Skiing. Swimming. Fishing.
And our loons took it in stride.
This pair of loons has settled into a routine a little bit different than some I have seen. But then I guess every case in different.
This pair seems to be very faithful in their commitment to the nest and the eggs. And they are good about sharing the nesting duties. But while most times I have seen pairs of loon do shift changes every few hours, this pair seems to have settled into longer shifts. Upwards of 12 hours or more at times.
But they are getting the job done.
Now we can only wonder what is going on inside those eggs!
We are at 19 days and 17 days for the incubation of the two eggs. So we are entering the home stretch.
I took some research from the University of Illinois for chicken eggs and transposed it and made allowances for the longer incubation period for loons to come up with a good idea of what is going on inside our eggs right now.
If the eggs are viable, the hearts of the little loon chicks have already been beating for over two weeks! Feathers began forming last week. And early this week the loon chick’s beak began to harden. Within the last few days the toes became fully formed.
And right about now the loon chick is turning its head toward the blunt end of the egg!
SO much going on. All of it hidden from our view. But all of it MIRACULOUS!
And the development only speeds up from here!
Can it be that in just a little more than a week we should see our first look at little loon chicks? The end result of the miracle that has been going on.
But that glimpse is SOOOO fleeting as the loon chicks jump into the water in the first day or two after hatching. And then they are gone. Water birds. In the element that God designed them for.
So get ready to watch closely. You do not want to miss this magical event that is ever so brief!
Copyright 2019 Larry R Backlund