THE START OF A NEW LOON WATCHING SEASON!!

Today's High Temperature 65 degrees   Sunny

So the BIG question is.....are you ready for another exciting season of watching our loons?! 

Filled with all the drama and suspense and uncertainty of what will happen?  To join us on the emotional roller-coaster that many of you have experienced in years past as you have watched and worried with our loons as they attempt to raise a new generation of chicks.

It is impossible to know what will happen this year.  It is ALL up to the loons as to what they do.

Today here at the lake the ice has turned black and the wind started moving the sheet of ice.  By tonight, about half of the lake was open and free of ice.

I almost expected to see or hear the loons this afternoon and this evening.  That is another one of so many amazing things about loons....they return to their lake within a couple days of the ice going out.  Last year they showed up in the morning with the lake almost completely covered with ice.  By the end of the day the ice was gone!  How did they know! 

If they were out there someplace today, they remained quiet and out of sight.  I heard from a couple people on other lakes in the area that they did see loons today.  So loons have made it this far in their long migration up from the Gulf of Mexico!  But I did not see "our loons".  But now the excitement starts to build.

I expect to see or hear them in the next couple days.

The forecast is for the temperature to be in the 70's for the next 3 days.  That will almost guarantee that all of the ice will go out of the lake this week.

While I did not see the loons today, this afternoon there were 5 bald eagles sitting on the sheet of ice out near the middle of the lake!!  What an impressive sight!

They were probably just resting on their migration north or even feeding on fish that had been left on the surface of the ice by ice fishermen this winter.

While we do have eagles that nest in the area, some of these are probably just stopping over as they migrate to their northern territories in Minnesota and Canada.

There is an area along the North Shore of Lake Superior called Hawk Ridge where one can observe a lot of migrating birds.  It is a wonderful area to watch the migration.   Reports from up there say that for the last several days,  one can observe a hundred eagles or more a day as they migrate along the shore of Lake Superior!

As with the eagles stopping, we may see some other loons stop here at the lake on their way north before "our loons" actually settle down.

I will not put the nest out for a few days yet....not until all of the ice is out of the lake and there is no danger that the ice will do any damage to the nesting platform.  And then I would guess that it would be another 2 or 3 weeks after that before the loons would actually begin nesting.  It will be interesting to watch when they nest because the ice is going out about a week or two earlier than normal.  Will they also nest early?

Or the most frightening part....will they even use the nesting platform!

So get yourself psyched up for another wonderful season with our loons.  Let all the neighborhood kids know.  Tell grandpa and grandma to get ready.  And email your friends around the country and even around the WORLD about the loon cam!  Have them join you in this years saga.

For the last two years the loon cam has been named the NUMBER ONE WEBCAM IN THE WORLD!!

Who knew that our loons could be so popular and have so many fans around the world!

Final Reports from Fall 2009

Here are three reports from Fall 2009 about our loons that for several reasons I was not able to get posted.  Enjoy.

Thursday, September 10, 2009  3:30pm

72 degrees   Sunny

September has been a very nice and warm month so far.

I haven't posted much about the loons lately since there has not been much to post.  This afternoon I saw one of the adults and one of the chicks swimming together and fishing.  The 'chick' is now almost full size.  About the only way that you know it from its adult parent is that the chick still has its grayish/brownish plumage.  It does not have the black and white plumage that we 'northerners' associate with loons.  But it is very typical of the winter plumage of adult loons that southerners are familiar with....that is if they are even aware of loons.

For you see when loons fly south for the winter, they lose their striking black and white coloring and just become these drab gray/brownish water birds.  But that is only one of their changes.  While they are on their southern wintering grounds, they also go almost totally silent!!  So two of the things that make them such special birds of the northern lakes are completely gone.  It is no wonder that most people in the south really do not understand why we think they are so special.

Minnesota's loons typically will migrate to the Gulf of Mexico.  A few of them will make their way to the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to the Florida coast.  Many of the loons of eastern Canada and New England will winter off the New England and Nova Scotia coasts.  And the loons of western Canada will normally winter along the California coast.

One of the interesting things about New England loons is that they are actually slightly larger and heavier than other common loons.  It is thought that it may be due to a shorter and less stressful migration since they normally migrate a much shorter distance.

I have not seen all 4 of our loons together since my last update on August 8th.  I have no reason to believe that there is any reason for concern but once in a while the question crosses my mind of why I have not seen the other chick.

At this stage in their development, the chicks are more independent and are able to fish and survive on their own.  They are now also able to fly although I have not actually seen either of them flying this fall.  The adults are getting ready to fly south for the winter.  Typically about this time of year the adults begin to gather together in large groups called 'rafts'.  The territorial urge has almost totally disappeared and they will gather in large groups  of sometimes several hundred as they prepare to fly south.

They will gather on large lakes such as Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota and also on the Great Lakes.  In fact, the importance of the Great Lakes cannot be underestimated for loon's fall migration.

The adults will fly south usually sometime between mid-September and mid-October.  And then in one more of the amazing things about loons, the chicks will not leave until about a month later!  Never having been to the Gulf of Mexico they will find their way down there on their own.  And then they will STAY there for three years before they make their first return trip back to their favorite Minnesota lake.  It is one of those 'I don't know how you did it but God you done good' moments about loons.

So this season rapidly starts to wind down and soon our loons will be on their way south.

And our days will be quieter and poorer without the beautiful calls of our loons.

But then we can always look forward to seeing them again next spring!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009  2pm

54 degrees  Hazy

Today has been a day of taking in the pontoon and the dock.

This afternoon I was surprised to hear the call of a loon!

It seemed to be coming from far across the lake.

I could not spot it with the naked eye but when I got the binoculars and the telescope....sure enough!  There was one of our loon 'chicks' lazily swimming and fishing all the way across the lake, barely visible through the haze.  It was good to see that it was still doing well.  Although once again I only saw one of the chicks.  There was no sign of either adult being around and would guess that the adults are already on their way south.

The first half of the month of October has been the coldest ever on record here in Minnesota.  We got some snow on the 10th (the earliest in 24 years!) and several inches of snow on the 12th and we had some snow every day last week!

Soon the chick will also need to think about flying south.  There is a very real danger that if they do not leave soon enough, they could be trapped by forming ice.  And that would be a death sentence for them.  Even if a lake is not frozen over, the amount of open water could get small enough that a loon would not have enough room to successfully take off.  And the consequences of that can be fatal.

How do they know when to leave?  How do they avoid being frozen in?  How do they find their way south to the Gulf of Mexico when they have never been there before?  And they have no adults to guide them?

These are just a few of the many wonderful and amazing things about loons.  We think we know so much.  But then realize that we know so little!

Saturday, November7, 2009

66 degrees   Sunny and beautiful

While doing winter preparation yard work this afternoon, I was startled to hear what I thought was a loon call.  Could it be?!  Was is actually a loon and was it one of 'our loons'?!  Why haven't they gone south?

Then I heard it again!

It definitely WAS a loon call.

I hurried to the house to get the binoculars and the telescope.

I looked and saw nothing.  It sounded like it came from way across the lake.  But I saw nothing.

After several minutes of watching, I thought I saw something but I could not be sure.  And I could not find it with the telescope.

But then all of a sudden there it was!  It surfaced!  It WAS a loon!  And it was an immature loon, probably one of our chicks from this summer.  It dove repeatedly as it fished.

When it came up one time, I called to it.  In the telescope, I could see its head perk up.  It obviously had heard the call and wondered where this other 'loon' was!  And then it answered.

From its swimming and diving, it was obviously healthy and in good shape.  It was good to see it again.

But there was also a tinge of concern.  It was getting late in the season and it needed to be ehading south before it got trapped in ice.  Would it make it?

But there is nothing I can do except observe.  And hope.  They know so much more than we will ever know.

So it is with a mixture of hope and a little concern that fills me right now.  Hope because the chick is still alive and apparently doing well.  Concern that it needs to 'get on the road'!  The lake will probably freeze over completely in the next few weeks.  And the young loon needs to leave BEFORE that happens!

Saturday, August 8, 2009 8:42am CDT

66 degrees  Cloudy and Thunderstorms   Wind Calm

It is a cool, rainy, moody Saturday morning for our loons here in Minnesota.

It has been raining most of the night and it is still raining this morning with scattered thunderstorms.  The forecast is for rain to continue this morning and then for more storms to develop this afternoon.  Everything is fine here but there are a number of areas that have already received 2 to 5 inches of rain! 

There are even flash flood watches out for a large area.

And there, amid claps of thunder, are our loons sitting right out in front.  All four of them together.  Relaxed, swimming, diving, fishing.  The chicks (it is hard to even call them chicks anymore) seem to be doing very well.  They dive along with the adults and one can only assume that they are now catching some of their own food.

The chicks turned 10 weeks old this week.  It is hard to believe that the time has gone so fast!

I have on a couple occasions seen one of the chicks swimming completely by themselves, far removed from the adults, for short periods of time.

They are becoming more and more independent and within the next week or two they should take their first flights.  That is the time that they truly start to become independent.  But for now, they are a family.  Close together.  All four of them.  But as the days of summer wind down, like any family, there will be less and less of them being together all the time.  Just like kids getting ready to go off into the world on their own.

It is almost a bittersweet time.  Where are those cute little chicks that we saw on the nest.  The beautiful little black ball of down.  So small.  So vulnerable.  So lovable.  The ones that made everyone instinctively say "Awwwww!!"

But now, they definitely are 'teenagers'.  Almost grown up.  Almost but not completely.  They still will take any meal of fish offered to them by their parents.  But they can also catch much of their own food as well.  It is hard to judge size from a distance.  But they must be at least 80% the size of the adult.  When they are not swimming next to each other, it is hard to distinguish one from the other.  Except by coloring.  The chicks still have their brownish-gray plumage while the adults have their striking black and white plumage.

But when they are close to each other, you can definitely tell the slightly smaller chick from the adult without seeing the coloring.

But there is another mystery this morning.  Just when you think you have everything figured out, there is something new.

I am perplexed and again reminded of how little we truly know.

The loons have been peacefully swimming.  No calling that I have heard.  Or at least no unusual amount of calling.

And yet sitting in the dead tree down in front is an eagle!!

It isn't as if the loons can't see him!

His big bulky body stands out so starkly against the dead limbs of the tree in which he is perched.

He is a young eagle.  But a huge one.  He still doesn't have the characteristic white head and tail of an adult eagle.  But their are some streak of white starting to show.

He has been sitting there for at least an hour now, sitting in the pouring rain.  Drenched.  Dripping.  Sitting through a downpour.  Then the rain letting up, only to be followed by another downpour.

The loons could care less about the rain.  What is a little water to them?  They LIVE in the water.  It doesn't make much difference if it is water above them or water below them.

But the eagle looks miserable and forlorn with its feathers soaked.

He just sits there.

And therein is the 'mystery'.  Why are the loons not concerned at all?  They don't call.  They don't seem alarmed.  All four of them just swim and fish.  They have to be able to see him.  This big dark hulking mass sitting in a barren tree not far from them at all.

Normally if there is an eagle anywhere within sight, they are calling and very upset.  the animosity between eagles and loons is something that goes way back.

But for some reason this morning, there seems to be a 'peace truce'.

The loons swim and fish.  And the eagle sits quietly in the dead tree in the rain.  Each unconcerned about the other.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:55pm CDT

I am sorry to keep all of you waiting for an update.  I have been gone a lot and so haven't really had a chance to write or to even monitor the loons closely.

It looks like one of the major questions you have is about the other loon parent.  I did not mean to alarm you unduly when I told the story of what went on with the dead snapping turtle.  I think...and I do say 'think' ... that the other loon is just fine.  But with me being gone a lot, I have not actually observed both parents with the chicks.  But that does NOT mean that there are any problems.

I am not concerned - if that helps to allay some of your concerns.

It is not unusual for there to be only one parent with the chicks,  especially as they grow older.  So it is more that I just have not been able to spend the time watching to catch both parents with the chicks.  I can tell you that both chicks look like they are doing just fine.

That is part of the reason also that I have not updated you because I was hoping to tell you that I had seen all four of them together.  And once again I apologize if I unintentionally caused you any undue concern or alarm.  I guess it just points out how much all of us care about these particular loons and chicks and we all hope they are doing ok.  Thank you for your concern!

Can you believe that the first chick was EIGHT WEEKS old today?!!

Where has the time gone?!

They have grown so much.  And now they are very proficient at diving and seem to actually enjoy it.  I assume they are catching some of their own fish now but they still take every fish that one of the parents bring to them.  Some of you have asked me to post pictures of them but unfortunately I do not have the telephoto lens that I need to do them justice.  As I have said before, I am afraid you would be looking at a "black dot" and would be even more disappointed.  (In fact, right now I do not have ANY camera!  I was pick pocketed in Jerusalem a few months ago and they got my camera!!  First time that has ever happened in my travels all over the world.)

In another 3 or 4 weeks, they will begin to fly and then they will truly start to become independent.  At that point, the bond between parent and chick starts to break and both of them start to go their own ways.  And then in September or October the adults will fly south and the chicks will follow them about a month later...October or November.

In what is yet one more amazing thing about loons, the parents and the chicks fly south separately!  The parents leave first.  And then the chicks find their way to the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic without ever having been there before!  How do they do it?  I have no idea.  It is another of those "I don't know how you did it but God you done good" moments!

And then even MORE amazing is that the chicks will spend the next THREE YEARS on the Gulf before they come back to Minnesota!

But we have another couple months before these beautiful friends leave the Great North.  So for now we enjoy every loon call that we hear at sunset or in the middle of the night.  We hang onto it and savor it.  And store it away in a special place in our memory to see us through the long silent winter months!

I hope that you get a chance to hear loons before the summer too soon comes to an end.  Enjoy them.  Teach people about them.  Respect them and teach your kids the wonder of loons.  And while you do, know that OUR loons are doing just fine.

Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:56pm CDT

82 degrees  Cloudy and Muggy  Chance of Rain   Wind S8mph

I had just gotten home a short while ago when I heard the loons giving a tremolo call, which is an alarm call.

When I went to look to see what was bothering them, I saw what I thought was the 2 chicks directly out in front.  And one of the adults in close to the dock, not too far from where the nest had been anchored.  Then I saw the other loon even closer in and over to the right a little bit.  It had its head underwater.  The other adult continued its calling.

I could not see any reason that it was disturbed.  No boats.  No fishermen.  No eagles.  Nothing.  But something was definitely disturbing the one loon.  When I looked back at the other one, it still/again had its head underwater.  Only the hump of its back showing.

The adult kept calling that tremolo alarm call.

I went to get the binoculars to see if I could see why it was so disturbed.  The chicks were swimming a little farther out.  Away from the loon that was calling.  But then my heart sank.  The other loon that I had thought had its head underwater watching, was not moving!  It had not raised its head at all.

NO!  Could it be?  Could it be that we had lost one of our loons?!

The other loon kept up its call, over and over and over as it looked at the floating shape and swam not too far from it.

I looked back out at the chicks.  Or was it two chicks?  Or was it one chick and one adult?  It was hard to tell since the chicks are getting so big.  It looked like the coloring of the chicks but I could not be sure.

The thoughts raced through my mind.  Would it be worse to lose a chick or an adult?  If it was one of the adults, what would happen.  It would mean that the other adult would have to do double duty in feeding and protecting the chicks.  And the chicks need for food at this stage is like a teenager at your house!!  They can feed themselves maybe some but for the most part they are still dependent on the adult.

I went down to the lake as the loon's calls continued.  It watched the floating shape.  It swam not too far away.  And it called over and over - continuously.

As I walked out toward where the carcass was floating, I became more and more concerned.  It definitely was not moving.  Had it been hit by a boat over the busy weekend and died?  My mind raced to think when I had last seen both adults.

As I got closer, I strained to see it better.  It didn't look like there was black and white plumage!  It was a mottled brown color.  Could it actually be one of the chicks?  I was still too far away from it to tell.  The loon kept calling and watched as I walked out.  It did not move away or become alarmed.  It simply kept calling.  Then it dove and came up not too many feet away.

Could all of the loons work and faithful parenting and protecting actually come to this?  To lose one of the chicks.  There were thoughts that I just wanted to put out of my mind.  And in the meantime the carcass just floated.  And the loon kept calling.

I wondered to myself what I should do.  I was prepared to retrieve it, bag it and freeze it until I could get it to scientists who could determine what had happened.

Finally I was close enough to make out some of the details of the carcass.

It is hard to describe the flurry of thoughts that went through my mind.

For what I could not make out from even 25 feet away was now obvious.  It was NOT an adult loon.  It was NOT a loon chick!  It was the bloated carcass of a snapping turtle floating half submerged!  A wave of relief washed over me.  But the loon still sat very near watching me and still calling.

It continued to call until I made it all the way back to the dock.  And then it stopped.  I am fascinated to think about what may have been going through its mind.  Did it finally stop calling because if I was satisfied that there was no danger, it could also be satisfied?

For about the next 10 minutes, it was quiet but it stayed between the carcass of the snapping turtle and the two chicks.  And then finally the three of them swam away.

I had to smile to myself after it was all over.  A smile of relief that it was not a dead loon.  A smile at how the mind can conjure up the most detailed stories of "what might be".  And especially a smile of relief that the two chicks are still doing fine and one of the parents was there with them still watching for any danger.  Even if the danger was the floating carcass of a dead snapping turtle!!