Friday, April 30, 2010 5:09pm CDT

 

58 degrees   Raining   Wind  W 13mph

 

Under a steel gray sky with rain coming down, one of the loons has just gotten back on the nest as the other one swims nearby.  I assume it is the female but as you know it is almost impossible to visually tell the male from the female.   They are almost identical in coloring and size but the male is just slightly larger.

 

They had been swimming around the nest for about 10 minutes before the one got up on the nest.

 

The one on the the nest is definitely more serious about nest building.

 

They already have a very good depression built for a nest but it seems as if the nesting urge is getting stronger.  This is the most nest building behavior I have seen for several days and it is a very positive sign that we may be getting closer to the first egg being laid!

 

The second loon got up on the nest with the first one by coming in the 'back door' near where the camera is mounted.  After sitting there for a couple minutes, he got back in the water while the other one kept rearranging nesting materials.

 

She left the nest for about 30 seconds and then immediately got back up on the nest and continued her 'mewing' and rearranging materials.  All of these things are very encouraging behaviors.  The 'mewing' call is almost constant.  And then the male gets up on the nest again and they mate once more.  This is the most times that I have ever seen them mating in one season....not to say that this is anything out of the ordinary but just that I have not witnessed it that many times in previous years.  The most that I had ever seen before is 6 matings.

 

So once again we are adding to the body of knowledge about loon behavior.

 

There seems to be a unique vocalization that is almost as if she is inviting mating.  It will be interesting to continue to observe and listen to those calls to see what they actually mean.  There is so much information that the new microphone this year is adding and you are a part of it!

 

Just so that you know, the 'mewing' call sounds very loud on the microphone.  But it is a very quiet call.  Since I first heard it here, I have listened for it from the shore of the lake and you cannot hear it!  Once in a while I have heard the hoot.  But never this 'mewing'.  So no wonder it has been a largely unknown call because people are never able to be close enough to the loons to hear it without disturbing them!

 

And you are among the few people in the world who have ever heard it live!

 

Obviously there is a lot of information that is being communicated through that call.  Maybe one day we will understand some of it.  But for now, we can just listen and watch and learn.

 

Even as I am writing this, she continues to be MUCH more serious about nesting behavior.  Are we close?  Only time will tell.  But this is very hopeful behavior.

 

Keep watching!

 

Go get the kids!  Tell your kid's teachers to use the LoonCam as a wonderful teaching tool in the classroom.  Get grandpa and grandma.   Invite the neighbors over and have a "egg watch vigil" party!!!

  

All of this activity is very encouraging that something will happen soon!

 

Friday, April 30, 2010 7:26am

 

57 degrees   Cloudy   Wind  S9mph

 

 

On a cloudy, overcast morning, the birds are in full song.  So many different kinds.  So many different songs.  All of them different and unique.

 

Our loons have just come in, swam around the nest once, made their 'new' mewing sounds and then swam back out into the lake.  Not a lot of time spent swimming around the nest.  No attempt to get up on the nest.  But still an obvious interest in the nest and ownership of it.  And then they swim back out into the lake.

 

Someone else on the lake reported that they had seen a confrontation between 'our' loons and another pair of loons on the lake.  I have not seen the other pair myself but it would explain something else.  For the last couple nights, there has been a lot of calling in the middle of the night.  While it is so beautiful to hear, it consisted of a lot alarm calls including the male's yodel [I will talk more about the different calls of the loon sometime soon].  The yodel is probably the most extreme of the loon calls and is made only by the male.  It is very much a territorial call.

 

So if there is another pair of loons on the lake, that could explain all of the calling in the middle of the night.  It is yet another sign that this loon pair definitely feels that this is their lake.  You will remember that I told you a couple weeks ago about an extended chase between two loons.  The chase easily went on non-stop for 10 minutes or more....longer than I had ever personally observed.

 

While such scenes are spectacular to watch, they can also use a lot of energy from the loons.

 

So if there is another pair of loons on the lake that is trying to establish their territory, it could mean conflict with 'our' loons.  If it is just another pair of loons passing through, there will be periodic conflict until they move on but no long term impact.

 

The loons seem to have formed a very nice nest 'bowl' on the platform.  All that is necessary now is for the loon to decide it is time to lay an egg.  Last year, this is the day that the first egg was laid.  In some other years, eggs have not been laid until well into May.

 

It is interesting to note that loons in far northern Minnesota, Canada and New England often do not lay eggs until much later....many times even into June.  

 

This particular pair of loons has a history of laying eggs in early May or even late April.  Why the difference?  That is just one more question in a long list of questions for which I am not sure anyone has a definitive answer.

 

So we continue to learn.

 

There has been a visitor to the nest several times.  A visitor that I can do without!

 

A muskrat once again last night decided to visit the nest.  It is not his first time and it probably will not be his last.

 

But what concerned me last night is that he seemed to be very interested in something in the lower right part of your picture....that is the corner of the nesting platform where the camera mount is.  It is also where all the video cables and the sound cable come down and go into the water!

 

I happened to be watching when he got up on the nest so I went down there with a very bright light and a convenient stone!  Between shining the bright light on the nest and throwing the stone out toward the nest, the muskrat decided that it was time to leave for greener pastures.

 

I saw that some of you were watching at the time and were very insightful about what was going on!

 

Loons are quite familiar with muskrats.  They will often use an old muskrat house to build their nest on.  So they know all about muskrats.

 

While there is not too much danger to the loons from the muskrat, my greatest concern is the damage that they can do to the platform itself or worse yet that they might gnaw through the video or sound cables!  If they would do that while the loons are on the nest, the 'show' would be over for the year.  I would still try to keep you up-to-date here in the blog about what is going on.  But if the loons are already on the nest, there is probably no way to repair such damage.

 

Muskrats are like a "small beaver".  They have a formidable set of incisor teeth and like a beaver, are great at gnawing.  One bite could be enough to sever the cable.  I know it all too well.  A few years ago muskrats did over a thousand dollars damage to my pontoon when they gnawed through the wiring on it.  And they did the same to a number of other boats and pontoons around the lake.  So we definitely do not need this muskrat feeling comfortable around or on the nest.  [Several of you are convinced that it was a rat that you have seen.  But it is a muskrat.  I sure hope that we don't have rats like that around here!]

 

Speaking of beavers, we do have beavers in this lake and this area.

 

A few years ago I think a beaver had actually been up on the nesting platform!  I did not see it happen so I cannot say for sure.  But a number of the willow branches on the nest had been gnawed off at a height that was too high for it to be a muskrat.  You could see the teeth marks on the stubs of the willow that were remaining.  But it was the perfect height for it to have been a beaver sitting there having a meal!

 

So the challenges that the loons face are almost endless and of an amazing variety.

 

Today there might be the chance of a challenge of weather.

 

We had some wonderful rain overnight but no storms here, although there were severe thunderstorms around.  Today there is a possibility of severe thunderstorms most of the day.  But at this point, I do not think [and I hope not] that we will be getting anything severe.  

 

But stay tuned.  You never know what the next few minutes will bring!

 

Thursday, April 29, 2010 12:06pm

 

59 degrees    Cloudy    Wind SE 19mph

 

 

The big question on everyone's mind is "When are the eggs going to be laid?"

 

That is the $64,000 question!

 

I am surprised that they have not been laid yet with all the activity that we saw on Monday and subsequent activity since.

 

Even as I am writing this, the loons came in off the lake as if on cue.  They swam around the nest just out of camera range although you may have heard some of their soft calls.  Now they have gone back out into the lake.

 

I guess only they know why they have not laid eggs yet and we have to trust them for the 'right time'.

 

One of these trips in off the lake things will happen very quickly.  The nest building will become very serious.  And then an egg.

 

I will have to go back through my notes and see how many confirmed matings we have this year.  Someone asked the question of how soon after the mating the egg is laid.  That is sort of hard to answer since, as you have seen, they mate multiple times.

 

Once again last night they were on and off the nest and there was additional nest building activity.  I know you are anxious for them to nest.  And so am I  (remember my 'paranoia'?!?!  lol).  But all I can do is counsel patience for all of us.  We are still ahead of when they laid the first egg last year.  Last year the first egg was laid on April 30th.

 

I do not see anything at this point that causes me any great concern.

 

Later today there is a possibility of thunderstorms...some severe.  Let's hope that the severe storms stay away from our loons and their nest.  But storms are a part of their life.

 

One of the reasons that nesting platforms, like this one that floats, have been helpful to loons is that they can ride up and over waves or boat wakes.  Many nest failures are due to eggs being washed out of 'natural' nests when a wave washes up and over them.  Also a nest like this is far enough from shore to protect it from natural predators like raccoons and mink and skunks and other animals.  

 

Although as we have seen, we have had a muskrat that has decided it is his duty to check out the nesting platform every so often.  If he comes up on there when the loon is on the nest, he will be taking his life in his own hands.  The loon could easily kill a muskrat with one strategic stab from its sharp bill.  But hopefully we will not see much more of the muskrat.  For the loons, it is just one more part of nature that they have to deal with.

 

So the anticipation continues to build.  Welcome to the real world of loons.

 

 

PS  Just after I posted this, the loons were back swimming around the nest at 12:28pm.  I had to laugh because they sat just out of view of the camera for much of the time and sat right by the microphone making their quiet calls...as if to say they just wanted to tease us by letting us hear them but not see them.  Let's see if they get up on the nest this time.

 

And she DOES get up on the nest and sits and does a very little bit of nest rearranging.  But the two loons mainly make the quiet calls back and forth to each other.

 

Only time will tell what comes next.

Monday, April 26, 2010 7:07pm

 

I think we are getting VERY close to the first egg being laid!!

 

The loon has visited the nest a number of times in the last two hours.  She has gotten much more serous about nest building.  Already there is a very nice nest bowl that she has formed.  And she has tried it on for size in just about every position conceivable.

 

It is important that it is "just right".  It will be "home" for them for the next month and they will almost never leave it during that time.  One of the loons....either the male or the female....will be on it all the time.  The eggs will very rarely be left uncovered for any length of time.

 

The male and the female share nest sitting duties almost equally.

 

Even as I am writing this now, [s]he came up on the nest from the backside 'like a bullet'.

 

Within a minute the male was also up on the nest and they mated.  I have to look back for my count but this is either the 5th or 6th time they mated.

  

I am still not out of my "paranoid" phase and will not be until they have actually laid the first egg.  But each visit to the nest eases my paranoia a little bit and strengthens the probability that they will use the nest again this year.  Part of the 'paranoia' comes from knowing that less than half of the nesting platforms put out are ever successful! [I will look the exact figure up for you sometime.]

 

And with this nesting platform I have been fortunate enough to have them use it for eight years....EVERY year that it has been out there!  That is something that is almost unheard of.

 

Folks....we are getting CLOSER to the first egg being laid!  This is NOT the time to leave your computer!

 

 

Monday, April 26, 2010 4:11pm

63 degrees    Partly Sunny    Wind  NNE@12mph

I have been gone for a couple days so when I came home a little bit ago I appreciated reading what all of you had posted.   Thank you!

Many pairs of eyes are much better than one pair of eyes in documenting what is happening.  So thank you very much.

I was surprised when I walked in the house.  What was coming over the speaker sounded like a good-old fashioned Minnesota BLIZZARD!!  

I almost expected Laura and Pa Ingalls to walk in the door and stomp the snow off their feet and exclaim, "It ain't a fit night out there for man nor beast!!

Trust me, the wind is not nearly as bad as it sounds sometimes.  It just depends on how it hits the new microphone.

As you have seen, the microphone is very sensitive and even picks up the sound of so many birds.  Most of those birds are some distance away from the nest but you can hear them clearly.  A couple of you also mentioned you hear talking and music yesterday.  Obviously I can't tell you what that was since I didn't hear it but my guess would be that it was someone in a boat on the lake or someone somewhere along the shore with a radio.  If I hear it sometime when I am here, I will let you know what I see or hear.

I went down to the lake to see if I could spot the loons since they were nowhere near the nest.

I 'think' I saw them all the way across the lake.  They are hard to spot sometime under even ideal conditions.  But today with the waves and with them diving, it was even more difficult.  But it is a good illustration of the fact that they are around even when you don't see them.  

I have mentioned several times that I would go down to do something on the nest when I knew that they were not in the area.  And then out of no where they would just appear!  So they see me even when I do not see them.

Just a minute ago, I looked down there and lo and behold there come both loons swimming toward the nest.  But they have  decided not to come in right now and are sitting a ways out from the nest or maybe even swimming back out into the lake some.

They will return to the nest when they want to!

But just know that they are out there.  Looking as beautiful as ever and doing well.

Once the eggs are laid, then you can be almost GUARANTEED of seeing them every time you look for the next 4 weeks!  I still would guess, based on their behavior, that we would see eggs laid sometime in the next few days.

Someone asked about last year.  The ice went out April 5th.  The LoonCam went live April 22nd.  The first egg was laid April 30th.  The second egg was laid May 2nd.  One egg hatched May 26th and the other egg hatched May 27th.

Hopefully that gives you something to compare this year against.

Keep watching.  Keep telling your kids and your neighbors and relatives and friends to watch.

It only gets better and more exciting with each passing day.

And get some sleep!  Some of you won't get any sleep once they are on the nest with NIGHT VISION on!