Tuesday, May 18, 2010 6:04am

 

50 degrees  Partly Cloudy  Calm

 

 

Three yodels break the morning air!!

 

And our loon on the nest leaves the nest and slides into the water.  It swims out to where the other loon is swimming.  It looks like they are having a conversation as they swim together.  But what were the yodels about?  The yodel is a strong territorial call given only by the male.  But these two loons seem to be just swimming together.

 

Then out of the west comes a third loon on a glide path.  Incoming!

 

With wings outstretched, he gracefully glides in and skids to a landing not too far from the two loons.

 

Heads held high, they swim toward each other.

 

Three loons circling each other in the early morning light on a still lake.

 

Circling and diving.

 

There is no more calling.  But who is who.  It is hard to keep track of which loon is which as they circle and dive.  Each one looks identical.  Is that the one that just dove over here?  Or is he the one that just surfaced over there?  Another dive and both of the other loons dive.

 

It is too confusing to keep track of which loon is which.

 

Obviously they knew but I find it impossible to keep track.  I also find it impossible to completely understand this kabuki dance.  Oh there is so much that we don't know about what goes on.  What is happening in their minds and in their interaction.  But for now, two eggs sit exposed on the nest because of this dance.

 

After 11 minutes, the loon returns to the nest, rolls the eggs and settles down.  But almost immediately there are more calls from out on the lake.  It looks like s/he is going to leave the nest again.  But he doesn't.  He halfway turns and settles on the eggs again.  And does it again until it has done a 360 degree turn on the nest.

 

The third loon has gone somewhere else by now.  And the mate is preening and rolling on its side as it is swimming out toward the middle of the lake.

 

To understand what just went on is almost too complicated and hard to piece together.  But right now, our loon is back in charge on the nest keeping the eggs protected and warm.  In the end, that is all that matters.

 

To most people still soundly asleep in their beds around the lake, nothing has happened.  They are totally unaware that the loons have already written a couple chapters in their book this morning.  Written chapters that we can see and read but that we are incapable of fully understanding.

 

And when the humans wake up and look out at a peaceful, quiet lake with hardly a ripple on it and see the loons swimming, they have no clue of what the loons have already been through.  The human's exclamation, with a cup of coffee in hand, of "Oh come and look!  The lake is so quiet and the loons are swimming so peacefully out there.  I wish I had it as easy as them.  I wish I didn't have a care in the world like the loons!" statements betray that most of the time we do not have any understanding of what is happening around us every minute of the day.  The drama that is being played out.

 

The tiny snapshot in time of our observation when we see them usually comes with no context of what happened just before or what will happen in the next few minutes.  For the loons, every minute brings new challenges.  In a split second they can go from the boredom of sitting on the nest hour after hour, to being locked in a serious battle over territory.  Whether the challenge comes from another loon or from an eagle.

 

And then just as quickly, things can return to 'normal'.

 

For now, it is 'normal'.  One loon on the nest.  The other swimming and preening on a peaceful, quiet northern lake in Minnesota.  "Without a care in the world."  Other than the "cares" all around it every minute of the day.

 

But in a way, this time off the nest is time to be enjoyed.  To relax.  To preen.  To dive.  To fish.

 

Because in another couple weeks, the chicks will hatch and then it becomes a 24-hour job to keep track of them, to protect them and to feed them non-stop.  Then the hard work really begins.  A task which will last for two or three months until the chicks are old enough to catch their own breakfast.  Until they are adept enough to dive from danger.  And until they are old enough to take their first flights.  The first time in their lives that they will ever leave the water and try something new.

 

But right now there are more important things.

 

Things like keeping the eggs warm so that there can even be chicks.  Things like keeping the eggs protected, safe from intruders and predators that would sweep down from above.  "Things" that are all around.  Things that we never see nor understand.

 

But for right now, it is a "peaceful" morning on the lake.

 

"Oh look at the loons out there.  Isn't that a beautiful sight?   I wish I had it as easy as they do!"

Monday, May 17, 2010 6:18am CDT

 

43 degrees  Clear   Calm

 

A single wail pierces the stillness of the morning air.

 

As usual, our loon on the nest is awake and aware of everything going on around it.  Is the wail a call to its mate telling it that it is time to come and exchange places on the nest?  Or is there some other meaning?

 

There are all other kinds of birds singing and calling.  Red-wing blackbirds and purple martins and finches and robins and orioles and crows and Canada geese.  There is even a dog yipping somewhere in the distance.

 

Not a breath of air is moving and the surface of the lake reflects every detail.

 

But what stands out in all of this is that single cry of the loon.

 

It is hard to miss.  And it is impossible to ignore.

 

With everything else that is happening, that is the one thing that captures and demands your attention.  It is the thing that stirs something deep within you.  A call that goes back through the ages.  A call that brings back the memories of untold canoe trips through the wilderness.

 

A call that brings back memories of fishing trips.  And of summer weeks at the cabin.

 

No other sound on this spectacular Minnesota spring has the capability of evoking all those emotions and feelings that the call of the loon does.

 

Several have already posted links and information about the different calls so I will not repeat it all here.

 

But let me just summarize the 4 calls of the loon and what they mean.

 

There is the wail (which we just heard), the tremolo, the yodel and the hoot.  (Click on the name of the call to hear it.)

 

The wail is a call which says to another loon 'I am here.  Where are you?'

 

The tremolo is a call which expresses concern from the loon.  It may be concern about something in the area that is too close or it may be concern over an eagle that is flying overhead.  It is often referred to as the 'laughing call' for obvious reasons.

 

The yodel is a call that is only made by the male.  It is a very aggressive call that says, 'This is my territory.  Don't come near.  I am ready to defend my territory.'

 

The hoot is a very quiet call that most people have never heard.  It is used by the loon to communicate with its mate when they are swimming close together or for the parent to communicate with the chick as they swim together.

 

I often times refer to them as two 'good' calls and two 'bad' calls, although there is really no such thing as a bad call.  They are simply calls which speak volumes when you know what they are saying.  But I call the tremolo and the yodel 'bad' calls because they are alarm calls.  When you hear either of those calls, it means the loon is concerned or upset about something.

 

I have to admit that I enjoyed loons calls a whole lot more when I didn't know what they meant!  I could just sit back and revel in the laughing tremolo of a loon echoing across a northern lake as we sat around the campfire.  And listen to it echo back and forth.  Then would come the tremolo from another loon on some other part of the lake.  It was magic.

 

But now when I hear a tremolo or a yodel, the two alarm ('bad') calls, I now immediately wonder, 'What is wrong?  Where is the trouble?'.

 

The two 'good' calls are the wail and the hoot.  They do not convey any concern or alarm from the loons.  They are simply ways for the loons to talk and stay in touch with each other.

 

All of the calls except for the hoot are high volume calls meant to be heard across great distances.  And that is why they are so distinctive and stand out from all the other calls.  It is almost impossible to ignore the call of a loon as it carries across a still lake at night and echoes from one end of the lake to the other.  And immediately transports us to another place and time.

 

But there is yet another call that you have heard on the LoonCam microphone this year.  A call that is not well documented at all.  I called it 'mewing' based on a single reference from a study published in the 1950s.  Mewing is an appropriate name since it almost sounds like a cat mewing.

 

I think that a case can be made that it is a fifth call that is separate from the other four.  It seems to be used mainly during the nest building and mating period.  It is used sometimes after but its frequency is greatly diminished.  Iit deserves to be studied and analyzed some more.

  

There may be some who would classify it with the hoot.  But I would submit that it is a distinct call from the hoot.  It certainly needs more study.  But in the wild one would very seldom ever have the opportunity that you have had to hear this unique call since it is so quiet and seems to be used only when the loons are close to each other.

 

I have listened from shore, only a hundred feet away, when the loons have been mewing to each other and I cannot hear it...even at that close distance.

 

There is also yet another call that you may have heard this year.  It is a short two or three note call given by the female that seems to be almost an invitation to the male to mate.  I have heard it at no other time.  It is close to a hoot call but it is distinctly different.

 

So once again there is new information that may be coming from the wonder of the LoonCam!

 

Information that adds to our body of knowledge about these wonderful birds that we call the Common Loon ...... but they are anything but common!

 

But today on this beautiful morning, rather than getting all wrapped up in the minutiae and details of every action and sound of the loons, just sit back.  Watch and listen with a renewed sense of wonder about the miracle that is happening right around you if you will only take the time to relax and to drink it in!  

 

And realize one more time what a magnificent and stunningly wonderful world we have been given.

Sunday, May 16, 2010 6:43am CDT

44 degrees   Clear  Calm

 

It is a stunning morning for the loons this morning.

 

There is not a ripple on the lake.  The entire lake is like a mirror reflecting the trees along the shore except for a couple spots where the rings from a fish jumping spread out across the surface of the water.

 

There is just enough of an early morning haze in the air.  Not enough to be called fog.  But just enough to add a certain mood to this perfect morning.

 

And the birds are in song and the frogs join them in singing the harmony.

 

On the loon nest sits one of our loons.  Looking around.  Taking it all in.  Relaxed but ever vigilant and looking every direction lest some unknown danger should sneak up on it.

 

The nest and the loon itself are perfectly reflected in the still surface of the lake.  It is such a relief to be free of the wind that has plagued the loons for so many days.

 

Somewhere the mate is out there.  But I do not see it right now.

 

There continues to be another pair of loons on the lake as well.  Yesterday I watched as there was a confrontation between 'our' loon and one of the others.  There were a few territorial yodels and then I saw one of the loons 'paddling' across the lake with its wings as fast as it could go.  The other loon dove and swam under water for a long way before it surfaced looking for the other loon which kept paddling with its wings.

 

But then the other loon is driven off and calm returns.

 

Even as I am writing these words, right now the loon who was so relaxed on the nest leaves and slides off the nest into the water.  No calling.  No seeming alarm.

 

But as I look out on the lake with the binoculars, I see our two loons swimming together a couple hundred feet out from the nest.  They have their heads held high so they are on alert.  But I do not see anything for them to be concerned about.  There are no boats nearby.  No eagle in the sky that I can see.

  

But then another loon surfaces near them....coming in from the east.  That is what they are concerned about.

 

There is still no calling.  Nothing to alert anyone that anything is going on.  Simply three loons keeping an eye on each other, circling and excitedly diving.

 

After about 5 minutes of this, the third loon disappears and the other two loons drift back toward the nest.  In another couple minutes, one of the loons gets back up on the nest, turns the eggs and settles down.  The mate swims off to do whatever loons do when they are off the nest.

 

And the familiar scene is restored...one loon faithfully on the nest.

 

This is the view that I see every time I come home and look down on the lake.  The silhouette of a loon sitting on the nest.  For one month, this is the view that lets me relax.  If that silhouette of the loon is not there, out come the binoculars to see where it is and why it is not on the nest.

 

But for this minute, peace has returned to the lake.

 

The birds continue to sing their hymns on a Sunday morning.  It almost makes one want to join them in songs of praise.   The frog choir has taken their seats and gone silent.

 

And the loon quietly surveys its territory from its throne on a Sunday morning that is picture perfect on a northern lake in Minnesota.

 

Can life get any better than this in an outdoor cathedral on a beautiful Sunday morning in the spring?!?!

 

Saturday, May 15, 2010 7:44am CDT

 

45 degrees   Clear    Calm

 

[I am sorry that the cam still seems to be down.  The loons are doing fine.]

 

On a spectacular sunny, calm, spring morning, our loons continue to guard their special charge.

 

One of the loons sits faithfully on the nest.  The other loon is far out in the lake preening.  It is rolled over on its side as it preens and readjusts its feathers.  Its bright white breast shines in the early morning sunshine.  The lake is like a sheet of glass under a bright blue sky.  The frogs are still in full song  and the birds join in the chorus and sing their morning songs.  It is a chorus that shouts 'this is a wonderful world and a gift that we have been given'!

  

We are now a full week into the incubation of the eggs.  Three more weeks to go.

 

But the loons are in it for the full, long slog.  Hour after hour.  Day after day.  Week after week they sit.  Careful to keep the eggs warm.  And always vigilant and watching for any possible danger that may come their way.

 

What exactly is it that happens in their brain and their body that makes them in a matter of moments go from a freedom loving bird that flies and swims and dives and fishes and just relaxes to a bird that confines itself to a small nest for a full month....fully one-twelfth of its life every year!  We know what the result is by their actions.  But we can only wonder at the miracle that causes it to happen.  What actually goes on in their minds and their bodies that drives this primeval urge is something that we can only marvel at.

 

One more of the questions of creation of life that we are not fully capable of understanding.  We simply stand back in awe of what we see.  We are not able to explain it.  So we just enjoy this wonderful gift of life that we are given.

 

And the richness of all of creation all around that has been given to us.  A creation that most of the time we just take for granted until we take a moment to stop and think of it.  And then in that moment we are overwhelmed at how magnificent it is!

 

This is one of those mornings that fills one with wonder.

 

To think that under this loon are two eggs in which the miracle of the creation of life is taking place.

 

In a matter of a few weeks...mere days really...we go from an egg not unlike the egg that we have for breakfast to LIFE!  A shell and a yolk and egg white.  Something so simple and yet so elegant.  And yet so miraculous that is capable of producing life!

 

Even now there are blood vessels and eyes and bones and beaks forming under our loon.  What a miracle!  And what an easy recipe.  Just add warmth and Someone else adds life!

 

Even while I am writing this, two little 'dramas' just played out.

 

I looked up at the television to see the loon on the nest in a 'hangover' position....neck fully extended and head down against the nest.  I take the binoculars to see what is disturbing it.

There is nothing around.  No boats.  No fishermen.  Nothing that I see that should disturb it.

 

But over the speaker I hear what sounds like geese chicks.  Sure enough!  Around the swimming raft come two little yellow geese chicks.  And they are swimming right toward the loon nest.  But the amazing thing is, I do not see an adult goose in sight.  I have never seen such small chicks swimming by themselves.

 

They swim up to the nest and one of the chicks tries to get on but is not able to.  So they move on.  They swim in towards the dock and then swim off to the east. 

 

The loon relaxes and raises its head and looks all around.

 

Within a few minutes of that happening, the loon again lowers its head.  

 

When I look this time, there are TWO loons swimming a little ways out from the nest!  The loon on the nest leaves and gets in the water and swims toward the other two loons who are circling each other an diving.  The loon from the nest looks under water when they dive.  And then stretches its neck high as it looks all around.

 

All three of them swim around each other.

 

But soon there is the familiar flapping of wings and the slapping of feet on the water as one of the loons takes off and flies away.

 

The two left swim peacefully together and then one returns to the nest, turns the eggs and settles down for its shift on the nest.  All of this took about ten minutes.

 

After these 'dramas', the loon is once again quietly sitting on the nest.  But ever vigilant for the next drama.

 

Today is also the "fishing opener" so there will be increased boat traffic and fishermen on the lake for our loons to watch for.  Always something to keep them ever alert.

Friday, May 14, 2010 5:58am CDT

45 degrees   Cloudy   Wind W 9mph

Under a clear sky, the first sunshine we have seen in days is brushing the nest with its rays.  And the loon sits faithfully on its eggs.  For now.

We have just been through a confrontation with another pair of loons during which time our loon was drawn off the nest for about 12 minutes and then about 3 minutes.

This time there were no calls.  The loon on the nest simply left.  It had been holding its head in a defensive posture for a minute or so and then it left to swim out to meet its mate and the other pair of loons.

The four of them circled and circled and dived excitedly.

When one would dive, the others would dive.  Over and over this ritual was repeated.

This is one of the times of greatest vulnerability for a loon.  It is when a male loon can do great damage to the other male loon in this fight over who controls this territory.

I have talked before about the loon's long sharp beak being its most potent weapon.  And it is used for both defense and offense.  One loon can come up from beneath another loon and do what is called a 'sternum stab'.  That is just what it sounds like.  The loon underwater stabs the loon on the surface of the water in the sternum!

There have been cases documented where one loon has killed another loon in this way.

So in a confrontation, when one male loon dives underwater, the other male will also usually dive as well.  It is his way of protecting himself from a sternum stab.  If they are both underwater, each one can keep an eye on the other and they are not as vulnerable to an attack from below.

Well, our pair of loons has ushered the other pair off to the east.  Apparently they have gotten them far enough away from the nest that they feel comfortable swimming back toward the nest.  Only now are there several tremolo calls.  That is somewhat unusual in that there had been no calls during the whole confrontation.

One of the loons got back on the nest after 12 minutes off.  But after only a minute, she was back off for 3 more minutes - apparently wanting to satisfy itself that this 'intruder pair' was actually gone.

Some of you have questioned whether this was the same pair as was here last year.  I will be honest, I have wondered the same thing!

There is no one thing that makes me think that but a series of small changes in behavior that make me wonder.

There was the long extended chase several weeks ago.  One of the loons has a distinct "break" in its call that I had not heard before.  The fact that there was serious nest building at one point only for it to take 2 more weeks for them to lay eggs.  Being back to the lake 2 weeks early but nesting later than I expected [remember how many of you were worried if they were even going to nest and I was trying to reassure you that they were?!].  Well, I will be honest with you....I was having some of the same questions at the time!

The observation that there seems to not be quite the same dedication to always being on the nest.  Remember the morning with heavy frost on the nest when she was off for about half an hour?  Now granted that was because of another confrontation with the intruder loons.

But just the fact that we still have another pair of loons on the lake makes me question which pair is the one we have seen in previous years.  It is one of many reasons why I would so like to band the loons.

Some have raised the question of whether the other loons on the lake might be loons from a previous year's hatch.  I have wondered the same.

Typically loons will stay down on the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic shore for the first 2 or 3 years of their lives.  Only after that will they come back north.  And the conventional wisdom is that they will come back to the same lake on which they were hatched.  So that alone sets up the scenario for confrontation.

But also, loons do not reach breeding maturity until they are about 5 or 6 years old.  So if one of these pairs is from previous years, it may be from 5 or 6 years ago.  We can only guess!

Because of their nearly identical markings, it is almost impossible to distinguish one loon from another.  In fact, it is almost impossible to distinguish the male from the female they look so much alike.  If you see or hear a loon yodel, then you can be sure it is a male since only the male uses the yodel call.  But otherwise, it is almost impossible to distinguish one from the other.

Some have seen the obvious 'bump' on the forehead at the base of the beak and used that to distinguish one from the other.  I also have done that.  But upon closer observation, it does not seem to be an actual 'bump' but that they can raise feathers in that area.  I have always thought that the male had that 'bump' but it seems to be both that can have it at certain times.  And at other times, both of them have a 'smooth profile'.  I would like to at some time examine a loon closer to see if there is an actual bump there or if it is entirely feathers.  I have never seen anything in the ressearch literature about this 'bump'.

Ok, that is probably more than you ever wanted to know about loons and intruders and confrontations and fights and chicks from previous years and 'bumps'!

But it gives you yet more insight into these amazing birds we call loons!