Thursday, June 4, 2009 9:52pm

63 degrees  Twilight   Calm

Tonight is another one of those picture perfect evenings.  The kind that take your breath away.

The kind that call you.  That make you just drop whatever you are doing and stop to drink it in.  To savor it.  To let it just seep into every pore.

The sun set a little while ago but now it is that wonderful twilight time.  The lake is still and our loons are swimming straight out from the nesting platform.  They still tend to stay on this side of the lake but they venture further and further away from the nest.  In fact, they spend very little time near the nest now and have not been back on it since that first day.

But for now, they sit straight out from the nest.

The water reflects the pink glow from the horizon and it just surrounds you and wraps you in its glow.  There is a bright moon that is almost full hanging in the southern sky.   And our two chicks are busy feeding.  Once again the familiar routine of the parents diving and bringing minnow after minnow to the chicks.

It was one week ago last night that the second chick was born and one week ago this morning that he finally jumped off the nest into the water.  You remember the scene.  The chick standing at the edge of the nest last Thursday morning as the rest of the family swam nearby.  He just couldn't quite muster up the courage to make that big jump.  But finally he did - never to return to the nest.

Some of you will remember two years ago when one of the eggs did not hatch and the chick kept returning to the nest for about a week or ten days.  The good part was that we got to see the chick growing.  The bad part was that he was not off swimming and learning how to be a loon.

Finally we removed the egg that did not hatch and that broke the bond with the nest.  It is one of the only times...if not the only time .... that I have violated my rule not to interfere.  After consulting with several wildlife professors, zoo experts and DNR experts, we all agreed that it was time to take the egg.  And some people were very upset that we did it.  But it proved to be the right thing to do.

My rational was that we had provided an artificial nest that removed all danger of land-based predators.  And therefore we had already altered what they would normally face.  A racoon or some other predator would have taken the unhatched egg if the nest had been on land.  So after waiting long enough to know that there was no chance it was going to hatch, we removed it from the nest and almost immediately the loons left the nest.  The bond to the nest was broken.

Tonight you could see that the chicks have definitely grown.  It is hard to tell how big they are from a distance.  But they definitely have grown.  They are still the balls of black down.  Just bigger.  I would guess, and it is only a guess, that they are maybe 3 to 4 inches long.

They are still at that stage where they are very vulnerable to predators and boats and jet skis.  And they still ride on the parents back.  This morning at dawn, both of the chicks were riding on the adult loons back.  That wonderful, wonderful iconic view of loons and their chicks!

So tonight I just wanted you to know that our chicks are still alive and thriving and doing well and growing.

Life is good!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 11:05pm

I do not want to make this blog in anyway about me.  But because so many of you have expressed prayers and concern about my recent biopsy, I felt that I owed it to you to give you a report.

Today I received the results from the biopsy and the results are the best possible news all the way around.

Let me quote a couple lines from the report that I received:

"The results of the tissue removed during your colonoscopy indicate: Inflammatory polyp.

Inflammatory polyps do not progress to cancer and do not increase your risk of colon cancer."

So THANK YOU to all of you for your care and concern!  You are the best!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 11:22pm

48 degrees   Calm

Can you believe it?!

It was one week ago today that the first chick hatched!

Already ONE WEEK OLD!

I am happy to report to you that both chicks are still doing very well and seem to be very healthy and active.

Early this morning just as the sun was coming up, there they were.  Mom and dad.  And two chicks.  Swimming on a lake as still as glass.  Two balls of black down floating next to mom and dad.  It was obviously breakfast time for the chicks after a long night.  The parents were in their mode of catching a minnow.  Feeding it to a greedy hungry chick.  Diving for another minnow.  Feeding.  Diving.  Feeding.    Over and over.

And the chicks appetite seemed to be endless.  As was the parents willingness to catch minnow after minnow and then, swimming over to the chick, gently feeding it to him.

I wish that you had been able to watch the scene. 

But even if the webcam had still been active, you would not have been able to see it since they were well away from the nest.  If that helps you not feel too badly about the days of watching the loons close up being over for another year.   And anything less than some of the really long, high quality telephoto lenses would have shown you nothing but some black spots far away on the lake.  Do you remember vacation pictures where someone would say, "See that little black spot in the bushes?!!  That was a HUGE black bear!"

One of the technical wizards picked up some of the equipment that it took to bring you the pictures from the camera on the nest, including the video server on which we burned out 4 different channels!

He mentioned that they had received a phone call a few days ago from a company in Australia that does nothing but monitor internet traffic and webcams.

This company said, "Did you know that the Loon Cam had more traffic than any other webcam in the world for the last several days!!!  By a large margin!" 

He told me that there had been millions of hits on the webcam.

I have not seen any official reports yet but that is what he passed along to me and so I pass it along to you with thanks.

I still stand back in awe of that and how the Loon Cam has become such a world wide phenomenon!  Thank you for being a part of that and for telling so many of your friends and family about it.  What really excites me though is that you have had so many kids watching our loons.

I hope it is an experience that they will never forget for the rest of their lives.  And that they have learned something new about loons and come to appreciate and value them.  And wildlife and nature in general.  And this wonderful creation that has been entrusted to us.

So THANK YOU!!!

Sunday, May 31, 2009 12:51pm

72 degrees   Sunny   Wind SE 14mph

On another picture perfect summer day, our loons are doing fine.

Bright sunshine.  Blue sky.  Gentle breezes.  And two gorgeous little loon chicks swimming with their parents.  Does it get any better?!

The parents are in non-stop feeding mode.  And the chicks are in non-stop eating mode.

No sooner than one loon comes up with a minnow and one of the chicks hungrily gulps it down. The other parent dives.  And moments later comes up with another minnow which is quickly consumed.  Dive after dive.  Minnow after minnow.  Meal after meal.

It is sort of like a big Chinese buffet.  But a buffet on a conveyor belt.  Endless food.  Endless appetites.

Sometimes both loon parents dive at the same time and the chicks look around as if to say "Where did everybody go?!"  Only to be greeted in seconds with yet another minnow.

It is so cute to watch as the little balls of down mimic their parents and rise up in the water, their white little bellies exposed, and flutter their tiny little wings.  Or they roll over on their side, once again exposing their beautiful white underside, and waggle a big chickie loon foot in the air.

So enjoy your day, where ever you are.  And know that right now the loons are having a spectacular day.  And they are doing very well!

Saturday, May 30, 2009 12:46pm CDT

64 degrees Sunny Wind 17mph NW

The sky is a deep blue with not a cloud in sight. Only the wide white contrail of an airplane that went over unnoticed some time ago stands out against the blue.

A fairly stiff northwest wind has whipped the lake into modest whitecaps.

And somewhere out there among the whitecaps are our loons.

It is hard if not impossible to see them right now with the waves. It seems like the stark black-and-white plumage of a loon would stand out and draw attention to it, no matter where it is. But such is not true.

With the whitecaps on the lake, they just blend into the waves and the color. Even on a day with just ripples on the surface of the water, from above they blend into the sparkle of light off the ripples. And it makes it difficult for even the "eagle-eyed" eagle to see them on the lake.

So what at first seems like an obvious mistake of coloring is exactly the perfect pattern to blend in with its surroundings.

Early this morning I did see them out there in the cool morning air. Peacefully floating along. Just before the winds started to come up. I could not tell for sure if both chicks were there but I think they were. It looked like there were two distinct bumps under the wings of the one loon. Wings that hopefully sheltered two little loons riding on its back.

I can tell you for sure that just before dark last night, both chicks were there. Healthy and active. And cute as ever!

And what other bird gives you a picture so beautiful and heart touching as the two little chicks riding on the back of the parent. If you have never seen it, just google loon pictures and there is almost sure to be a picture of a cute little chick riding on the back of the adult loon. Something that is so special and just one more thing that endears loons to all of us.

Especially during the first two weeks of its life, the baby loon is so vulnerable to so many dangers.

It can not dive well. It can dive almost immediately after getting off the nest but dives only a few inches deep. And then it pops back up to the surface like a cork.

So it is vulnerable to things under the surface of the water, above the surface in the air and on the surface. Under, it is vulnerable to muskies and bass and northerns and turtles. Above, it is vulnerable to eagles and seagulls. And on the surface of the water, it is vulnerable to jet skis and speedboats. They can be right on top of them before the boater even sees them and the little loon is not able to dive deep enough to get away safely.

So if you are out on the lake, watch for loons and especially the little babies. If your friends are boaters, encourage them to do the same.

Let me explain a little bit about the webcam.

It probably will not be live again this season. It was my intent and everyone's intent to keep it live for at least a week after the loons left the nest. To give you a chance to catch the rare glimpse of the loons as they swam by the nest. But probably more importantly to gradually ease you off your addiction to our loons!!!

Here is one more amazing thing that happened! Just an hour and a half or two hours after the second chick left the nest on Thursday morning, the fourth of four channels on the video server burned out! So I guess if it was going to happen, the timing could not have been more perfect because at least it gave you a chance to see the second chick make that giant leap of faith into the water. How bad would it have been if it burned out just as the chick was standing at the edge.

In talking with the people at MN Bound, there was the feeling that by the time they could even get a new video server shipped in and reconnected it would be too late to give you any meaningful viewing. So for now they will be playing videos of some of the previous days to give you something to see our loons.

To put your minds at ease, you are not missing much by not seeing the live cam. Although I realize that even seeing the empty nest brings some closure to the year.

However, even that I find to be bittersweet. How quickly it changes!

One minute there is a loon and chicks on the nest. It is full of life and fascination and wonder.

The next minute, the loons are gone. They have left the nest. They swam out of view. And all that is left is a nondescript, some might even say ugly, mass of dead dry lake weeds and vegetation. So lifeless. So lacking in interest. So different than it had been. So devoid of life and action.

I will periodically continue to give you updates about our loons. Several of you have asked about the nest itself and I will maybe try to answer some of those questions in the next few days. You can get a better view of the whole nest and where it is in the Simply Science segment that Sven Sundgaard did for KARE11 tv. http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=724929

For today, just know that the loons are doing well.

Questions or Comments or Observations? Post them here or in the Chat Room or send them to LoonCam@yahoo.com