Thursday, June 10, 2010 4:17pm CDT

The mate of the loon on the nest is sitting not too far out in the lake from the nest.  S/he is floating and sleeping.  Getting some well-deserved rest.

 

All is calm.

 

The loon on the nest is ever alert to danger and continues to pull nesting materials up on the nest.  From what can be seen on the camera, it looks like the level of the nest has been raised significantly in the last few days.

 

But it is 'calmer' than any of us want.

 

We wish that there were the activity and excitement that would come with the arrival of a new chick.  But it is looking less and less likely that the egg on the nest will hatch.  There is still a very slim chance that it might happen but that probability is getting less and less with each passing hour.

 

All of you have been amazing in your interest and excitement and support of these loons.  It is almost as if we wish hard enough that we can get that egg to hatch.

 

But there is also a time to be realistic.

 

And I would now be more surprised if the egg hatched than if it did not hatch.

 

Some of you have wondered if we will "just suddenly shut off the LoonCam".  The answer is no, we will not suddenly shut it off.  We will try to give you some warning before we turn it off for the year.  So don't worry about it "just disappearing".

 

I have heard back from the DNR and they have been given me permission to take the second egg off the nest if it becomes necessary and when it is appropriate.  Again, I will try to let you know before I do anything.  I would not expect that I will do anything before the first part of next week.  I want to give them every chance to hatch the egg and I do not want any question in any of our minds that the egg may have hatched or that we took it too early.

 

So if they abandon the nest, then I will take the egg off the nest.

 

If they do not abandon the nest, I will have to carefully consider what is the best way to remove the egg from the nest in order to cause the least distress.  I have thought about that doing it at night might be the least stressful for the loons.  But we will see what is the best course of action.

 

I also do not want them to start to see me as a threat.  I have worked years to gain their trust and I think that has shown on numerous occasions.  But I could destroy that trust in a matter of moments and that I do not want to do.

 

So it will take a lot of thought to decide when and how will be the best to take the egg if it becomes necessary.

 

But I will try to keep you informed at every step of the process!

 

The DNR has also said that they will try to x-ray the eggs to see if they were fertile and had started to develop at all.  The DNR has been so supportive in everything that I have done with this loon nest and we have been able to educate so many thousands of people about loons and taking care of them.  I would like to especially thank Carroll Henderson and Pam Perry for their support and encouragement through the years.  Mr Henderson is the head of all the non-game wildlife programs in the state of Minnesota.  He has recently released an updated version of his book "WOODWORKING FOR WILDLIFE - Homes for Birds and Animals" published by the Minnesota DNR.  It is a wonderful resource if you are looking for information about nests or providing habitat for birds or animals.

 

Rain continues to move through the area although there has not been much more than a few light showers here so far.  Tonight however is forecast to bring heavy rain throughout the night.  

Heavy rain on a natural nest along the shores of a lake can make the nest vulnerable if the lake level rises significantly.  However, one of the advantages of a floating nesting platform like this is that if the lake level rises.  It rises.  If the lake level goes down, the nesting platform goes down with it and enables the loons to still access the nest.

 

So for now, the loon continues to carefully and faithfully sit on the remaining egg on the nest.  

 

And we continue to hope.

 

Thursday, June 10, 2010 7:09am CDT

52 degrees  Cloudy   Wind NE 3 mph

It is a cool, cloudy morning that promises rain for the loons this morning.

Then later tonight the rain may become very heavy with the chance of thunderstorms lasting into Friday morning.

While rain sends us humans running for cover, it does not really affect the loons at all.  Water?  Who said water?  That is where we live!

The only concern would be if the storms became severe tonight.  There is apparently not much chance os that happening this morning.  But if there are very high winds or especially hail, that would not be the most pleasant for the loons.

I have watched them sit through hailstorms in the past with hail bouncing off their backs and their heads.  But they never moved off the nest!  It was as if they knew that they could survive the hail but that the eggs never could survive being pelted by hail.  And so that sat on the eggs, ever faithful.  Ever vigilant.

But this morning, the big question is not the weather.

The question is if the egg on the nest will hatch.

Today is day 36 and day 34 for the two eggs.

I have to be honest with myself and with you that we are now at the point where it becomes very questionable whether or not this second egg will hatch.  It is impossible to tell whether it is the 'day 34' or the 'day 36' egg which is still on the nest.  But whichever one it is, we are now moving rapidly beyond the window of time in which we would expect it to hatch successfully.

It is not time to give up on it yet.  The loons have not given up.  But as time goes by, it becomes less and less likely as to whether or not we will see a new little loon chick this year.

Some have asked how long they will sit on the egg even if it is not viable.  There are a couple documented cases of long term sitting on eggs that did not hatch.  One was where the loons sat for 66 days and the other documented case was where the loons sat on eggs for 74 days.

These times are unusually long.  But they illustrate how long a loon will potentially sit on an egg that does not hatch.

Normally something would happen to an egg long before they sat that long.  The most likely scenario is that some predator would take the egg before the loons sat on it that long.  But they will sit for a long time trying to hatch that egg.

This fact alone argues that loons may not be able to feel or know if an egg is viable or not.  Once again, there is just so much that is not known.

The most common predator of loon eggs by far are raccoons.  But there are numerous other predators including skunks, mink, eagles, crows and ravens, seagulls and who knows what else.  The longer a loon would sit on eggs on a land-based nest, the more likely that it would be discovered by a predator.  And the predator would scare the loon off the nest and eat the eggs.

There are cases of loons attempting a second or even third  try at nesting if they lose the first nest.  But second and third attempts are usually less successful than the first attempt  And then the calendar starts to work against them at some point.  A very late nest means that the chicks do not have time to mature before it is time for them to fly south.  And they risk being caught in the approach of winter and their lake freezing over before they are able to leave to fly south.

Here is the most likely scenario of what will happen if this remaining egg does not hatch in the next few days [ there is a possibility of that happening although it is rapidly becoming a slim possibility].

At some point, in consultation with the DNR and other experts, we may remove the egg from the nest.  That will normally break the bond that the loons have with the nest and allow them to get on with their lives and to have a somewhat normal summer - albeit one without chicks.  By taking the egg, we are simply duplicating what would normally happen in the 'wild'.

The advantage of building an artificial floating platform like this for them to nest on is that it protects them from predators as well as rising or falling lake levels.  However, that is ALSO the disadvantage of a nest like this - it protects them from predators who would eventually take the egg.

By taking the egg, we are simply duplicating what normally happens in the wild.  Just a different 'predator'.  A human one.

However, having said that, NOTHING will be done without the approval of the DNR and the consensus of wildlife experts.

Some have asked whether that has ever happened before with this particular nest where an egg did not hatch.  The answer is yes.  On two occasions.

Over the course of the years, this nest has been amazingly successful in hatching and fledging loon chicks.

But the very first year that loons used this nest, they laid two eggs but neither one of the eggs hatched.  The loons continued to faithfully sit on the eggs day after day.  I would have to look back at my notes to remember for sure how long it was, but from what I remember it was well over two weeks beyond the expected hatching date.

Then something happened to the eggs and they abandoned the nest and got on with their lives.

I did not personally see what happened to the eggs so I cannot definitively say what happened.  But when I came home at the end of the day that they abandoned the nest, one of my neighbors asked me if I saw the eagle harassing the loons in the morning.  I had not.

My neighbor told me that all morning the eagle had been flying over the nest and dive bombing the loon.

So we can only assume that the eagle ultimately took the two eggs off the nest.

The second instance was the year when one of the eggs hatched but the second egg did not.

In that case, we left the egg and the loon continued to come back to the nest to sit on the egg.  And unusually, the chick also spent much of its time on the nest as well.  It was wonderful and very enlightening to watch the chick grow during the first two weeks or so after it was hatched.  But it also was not the norm and not what that chick needed.  That chick was not a creature of nest or land.  It was a creature of the water and it needed to be about learning how to survive on and in the water.

So after about two weeks, we took the egg off the nest.

That broke the bond and almost immediately the loons moved on with their lives and the important task of teaching the chick all that it needed to know to survive.

So there has been experience with eggs not hatching on this nest.  Fortunately however, almost every egg laid here has produced a chick.  But that does not look like it will be the case this year, for whatever reason.

Overall, in studies conducted in the wild, each nest successfully produces only 0.62 chicks each year!  So the success of this nest and the loons on this nest have been amazingly successful over the years.

Even though there is a relatively low production of chicks, loons are very long-lived birds so they have a longer opportunity to reproduce themselves.  No one knows for sure what the longest is that a loon can live.  But it is felt that they live at least 25 to 30 years, very long for most bird species.

Several have asked if a loon would renest if the first nest fails.  There is a possibility of that as I said before.  But second and third nests are usually less successful than first attempts at nesting in a season.  And there is the danger of a chick not being mature enough to fly south in the fall.

So once again today, we can only watch and wait and observe.  And hope for the best for our loons.

They have patiently waited.  That is the least that we can do.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 8:40am CDT

 

I had meant to give you an update on the egg that was bumped out of the nest by the loon when I posted earlier and I forgot.

 

I have not taken it in to the DNR yet.  I have let them know that I have it and we will be discussing everything in more detail.  Even after I take it in, it may be sometime before we hear back with any results.

 

But for those of you who have been so faithfully watching and documenting everything that has happened, you might be interested in knowing some details of the egg that was found floating in the water and retrieved some distance from the nest.

 

It is about 3 7/16 inches (87.3mm) Long and about 2 5/16 inches (58.7mm) in Diameter.

 

It weighed about 130 grams (that is just over 1/4 pound) and had a volume of about 145cc (cubic centimeters).

 

These figures compare favorably with some measurements given in previous studies where the length of eggs ranged from 86.5mm to 91.6mm and the diameter from 53.9mm to 57.1mm.  Volumes in the studies ranged from 124.3cc to 150.3cc.

 

The egg is a very dark olive brown with even darker olive brown spots...not black spots but close.  There is a very slight "orange peel" texture to the surface of the egg.

 

Loon eggs are dark enough and the shell thick enough that you cannot successfully "candle" them to see what is inside....although I did try candling this egg just to make sure.  I could not see any detail through the shell.

 

I have to admit that as special and humbling as it is to handle a real loon egg, I would much rather be handling shell fragments after a successful hatch!

 

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 7:24am CDT

 

58 degrees  Clear  Wind West 9mph

 

 

The all-day rain yesterday brought some much needed moisture.  It was a wonderful soaking rain.  The perfect kind.

 

Now when the loon moves on the nest there is not the crackling sound of material that is tinder dry that you have heard before.  The 'sound of bacon frying' as the rain hits the nesting material has been muted.   And even though the irises are pretty much done blooming, at least they and the daylilies may stay alive.

 

The wind has picked up as a front sweeps yesterday's rain out of the area and brings the bright blue skies today.  The forecast is for this to be a bright sunshiny day but the wind may pick up even more.  It may be time to turn the volume on your speakers down a little bit.  The wind is never as bad as the sensitive microphone makes it sound.  When there is any wind it sounds like a raging Minnesota blizzard!

 

This morning, like every other morning for the last month, our loon continues to faithfully sit on the egg.  We cannot know for sure which egg it is that remains on the nest.  Is it egg #1 or egg #2?

 

Egg #1 was laid Wednesday, May 5th at 9:24am and Egg #2 was laid on Friday, May 7th at 9:12pm.

 

So if this is still Egg #1 on the nest, today would be 35 days since it was laid.  If it is Egg #2, then it would be 33 days tonight since it was laid.

 

Normal incubation time for a loon egg is usually given as 28 days and the literature usually lists 26 to 31 days as the incubation period.  On two occasions we have documented chicks on this nest hatching at 25.5 days.  One year the loons continued to sit on the eggs for a full two weeks beyond the expected hatching day until something, probably an eagle, took the eggs.

 

Another year, one of the eggs hatched and the other one did not.  The loons and the chick continued to return to the nest to sit on the egg until it was removed about 10 days to two weeks later. X-rays of that egg showed that a chick had started to form but had stopped developing at about 2weeks.  That stage of development of the chick fit just about perfectly with the timing of both eggs being immersed in cold water while the adult loon was off the nest - having been chased off the nest and all the way across the lake by an eagle.  One chick made it, the other one did not survive.

 

So we wish we knew what was going on inside the egg that the loon continues to so faithfully sit on.  But we just have to wait.  There is a possibility that the egg may still hatch.  We still hang on to every little bit of hope.

 

But with every passing day...yes, even every passing hour...the chances of a successful hatch go down.

 

But I for one am not completely giving up hope yet.  While I have not given up all hope, I am realistic enough to know that the probability that it will hatch is going down.  But then when the eggs were both submerged in the cold water a couple years ago, I thought we had lost both of them.  I was surprised when one of the eggs successfully hatched.

 

Did something happen to the eggs?  Were they infertile from the start?  Did something else happen?  We may never know the answer definitively.  

 

I cannot help but think back to that cold morning only a few days after the eggs had been laid when they were left uncovered for 31 minutes with frost all over the nest around them while the loons went out to confront an "intruder loon".  It was early enough after being laid that I do not think there was damage to the eggs, but that has always been in the back of my mind.

 

The there have been the other  times when they have been left exposed for longer than normal times on several occasions.  That has been out of the ordinary from what has usually been observed.

 

So the questions continue.  If only there were as many answers as there are questions!

 

But once again this morning, the loon continues to sit patiently.

 

Yesterday some of you saw another behavior that was unusual.

 

For about an hour or two in the afternoon, the loon began nest-building activity.  It was as if s/he was driven and possessed.  I have not seen such behavior before.

 

She frantically pulled material around her on the nest.  Over and over and over.  She would even get partway out of the nest to reach more material to pull into the nest.  And during this time she would leave the egg exposed in the rain as she was on the edge of the nest pulling material.

 

She pulled at the cattails which form the base of the nest.  Even successfully pulling some long sections loose.  She pulled at other material and placed it around the nest bowl.  She even pulled at the roots of the iris nearest the camera and pulled hard enough that the plant just shook and waved back and forth.  She did not get it loose but for a minute I thought that she was going to pull the whole plant up and place it on the nest.

 

It is normal for a loon to pick up pieces of material and place it around the nest throughout the incubation period.  But this activity went far beyond that.  There was some deep urge that drove her.  It was an urge that put her into overdrive.

 

And then as suddenly as it had started, an hour or so later it stopped.

 

It was amusing and puzzling to watch.  You could not help but wonder what was going through her mind.  Was there any kind of "conscious thought"?  Or was it strictly 'mindless'  instinct of some kind that was driving her?  Or something in between those two extremes.   Yet one more thing of so many that we do not know.

 

So once again today, we watch and wait and hope.  And the loon sits.

 

We hope for a chick.  But it is not looking promising.  But hope is still there.  It is too early to contemplate other things yet.  It will be a number of days before we do that.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 6:20am CDT

60 degrees  Raining  Wind SE7mph

This morning dawns gray and cloudy and rainy.

It is one of those rains that could possibly last all day.  Slow.  Steady. Soaking.  And life giving.

This is the type of day that you just want to stay in the tent when you are on a wilderness camping trip.  Sheltered in your tent listening to the drops of rain hit the roof over your head.  Safe and dry.  Maybe with a good book if you have one with.  But what makes those times even more special while you are camping is to hear a loon calling.  Somewhere out on the lake.  Through the mist and the raindrops.  That unmistakable sound.  

The call of a loon.

The sound that sends shivers up your spine and yet inexplicably enfolds you and wraps you in everything that it means to be in the wilderness.  Something exhilarating, yet calming and soothing.  Something that strikes a chord deep within our very being.

The call that is from a world other than the one where we seem to spend most of our lives.  A busy world of noise and schedules to be kept where we live.

But when the loon calls, it is from a different place and time.

The patter of the rain on our tent, the gentle breeze, the waves lapping at the shore.  And the call of the loon.  It is a different rhythm.  One that soothes and heals our very soul.

For our loon on the nest, the rain is no problem.  It is much more at home sitting on the nest during a gentle rain like this than it is when a hot sun is beating  down on it hour after hour.  After all, water is its element.  The place where it is most at home.

And so our loon sits.  Faithfully.

Today marks the 32nd and 34th days for the eggs.  Which one is still on the nest?  32 or 34?  It is impossible to know.

Whichever one is still on the nest, time now starts to rapidly run out as to whether or not we will have a successful hatch.  It is still possible.  There is still hope.   But with each passing day it becomes less and less likely that the egg will hatch.

There are so many questions about why?  But for now we can just wait and wonder.

If it does not hatch, this is the first time in many years that the loons on this nest have not had a successful hatch.

One is reminded again how relatively few of these birds are actually around.  That is one of the many things that makes them so special.  People in the southern 3/4 of the United States and most areas of the world never see the Common Loon.  The loon that is not common at all.

And if they do see it, it is usually not in its beautiful black-and-white summer plumage and they seldom ever hear the loon give its magical call.

So most people in the world are never blessed with seeing or hearing a loon.

But we not only get to see them and hear them, because of the LoonCam we get to see and hear them up close.  We get to "know" them as a friend!

But they remain relatively rare.

In the Lower 48 states, Minnesota has the most loons by far with about 12,000.  Then Maine has about 4,000, Wisconsin with 3,000, Michigan and New York with about 1,000 each and New Hampshire with about 500 loons.

So you can see why seeing and hearing a loon is so special.

In Minnesota too much of the time, we take them for granted.  We don't stop to realize that most people never have the privilege and opportunity that we have to enjoy this magnificent bird.

But then Canada puts all those numbers to shame.  It is estimated that 500,000 to 600,000 loons spend their summers in Canada.  While every Canadian province has some loons, the majority of them are in Ontario, Quebec, The Northwest Territories, Manitoba and British Columbia.  They are truly the voice of the North Woods!

In fact, the Canadian one dollar coin has a loon on the reverse side and is commonly and affectionately known as a "Loonie".

In most areas the loon population is classified as "stable".  But they are an 'indicator species' that gives a good picture of the overall health of the environment.  And so they give us a very good picture of what is happening all around us.

The oil spill in the Gulf has been something that many have asked about.  What effect will it have?

For most of our adult loons it is not a problem yet.  Because most adult loons are on their northern breeding grounds.

But the 'chicks' from the last three years are still on the Gulf of Mexico and so it remains to be seen what the impact will be on them.  And the adults that we are seeing this summer will head down to the Gulf or the Atlantic Coast later this fall.  Will they head into the jaws of the oil spill?  Or will the effects have been mitigated by then?  No one knows for sure.  There will be some impact.  But how much remains to be seen.

But today the focus of the loon is to take care of the one remaining egg.  To do everything possible to make sure that it hatches.

And that is what our loon is focused on.