Monday, April 25, 2011 4:52pm CDT

66 degrees   Sunny   Wind East 8mph

Yesterday was an absolutely spectacular Easter Sunday.  And today matches it.  Tonight and tomorrow there is a prediction of some rain.

The LoonCam is now live on both MNBound and Wild Earth tv!  Tell your family and friends and schools to join in this exciting adventure for this year.  Who can even predict what will happen?  But we will enjoy it and learn as we observe it together.

As you have already seen, the loons have been spending more and more time around and on the nest.  There have already been several matings.  Each time that they are on the nest and each mating increases the chances that they will use the nest this year and that we will once again be able to enjoy watching them.

There are still a couple things that I want to get done before they actually begin their nesting.  Things like attaching some willow branches to the platform to try to keep the eagles from swooping down on the nest directly.  Putting out the swimming platform and some buoys to try to keep boats from coming too close.  And a couple other things to help.

I will have to watch for times when the loons are not in the area to do this work in the next day or two.

So if you see some activity around the nest, that is what is happening.  You may see or hear a couple big splashes when I throw the buoys out, trying to get them out farther without having to go out too deep into the water.  The water is still painfully ice cold!

Since we have the microphone, I will try to explain what I am doing if I am near the nest.

So gather 'round and enjoy the show as we welcome our loons back for 2011!

Good Friday, April 22, 2011 7:43pm CDT

 

 

40 degrees   Raining   Wind NW3mph

 

 

This continues to be a 'typical' Minnesota spring.

 

There is nothing typical about it!

 

Last week the temperature finally made it into the 70's.

 

This week, on Wednesday morning, we had about 3 inches of new snow!

 

This have continued to progress on getting the nest and the camera ready for you.  And we are ever so close.

 

Yesterday I was able to put the nest in the water.  The great technicians from Minnesota Broadband and Wild Earth tv have continued their work to get everything ready to go.  On Monday night they installed a new camera.  They truly deserve our thanks for all their hard work.

 

And right now I am watching the video from the nest!

 

Now all we need is for you to be able to see it live and for us to have some loons.  We are close on both fronts.

 

I mentioned that last week I had seen 6 or 7 loons on the lake.  That is more than we need.  About 4 or 5 loons more than we need.  But then over the last week I have not been able to do a lot of observing and when I have been able to watch, I have not seen much of any loons.  The cold windy weather and the waves on the lake make it difficult to spot any loons.

 

As I said, yesterday I was able to get the nesting platform put out into the lake.

 

Surprisingly, within an hour and a half after putting it out there, a pair of loons  showed up.  And even more surprisingly, both of them immediately got up on the nest.  They were only there for a couple minutes but they definitely seemed to be familiar with it and comfortable in getting up on it.

 

After a couple minutes they went back in the water and swam away.

 

Today I have been gone much of today but when I have been home, I have not seen them anywhere around.

 

Until tonight.

 

Around 5pm I saw them swim up to the nest and get up on the platform!  Both of them.

 

And then they mated.

 

So it appears that they are ready to make up for lost time and for a late spring.

 

After only a minute of two, they went back in the water and started to swim away.  But then one of them, I assume the female, got back up on the nest.  She immediately started trying out different spots and then actually started a little nest building building activity for about 5 minutes!

 

So that is very encouraging signs that they are already taking ownership of the nest!

 

I have not seen them now for a couple hours....but they are no doubt out there someplace.

 

And hopefully very soon, the switch will soon be flipped and you can watch every detail.  Don't get too concerned about the time.  It usually takes a couple weeks from their first approach to the nest before they get serious about nesting. 

 

I apologize that I have not been able to give you much information for the last week.  Between a couple funerals and some of my dearest friends (who I have not seen for 20 years!) being here from Washington state and the 'winter weather', I have not had much time.  But as we get closer to actual nesting activity, I will try to update you regularly.

 

I still have a few finishing touches to put on the nest and if they go 'live' before I get them done, you may be able to observe that first hand as well.

 

So if you are fortunate enough to live in an area with loons, keep watching for 'your loons' to return as well!  Sometimes those of us in areas that have loons forget how special it is and what a privilege we are blessed with to be able to enjoy these magnificent birds with the haunting call of the north.  For the rest of you who do not live where loons live, it is a privilege to bring you an 'up-close-and-personal' look at our loons!

 

Enjoy it.  And share it with your family and friends and with your children's school teachers!

 

And to all of you, I wish you a very Happy Easter!  Or if you celebrate Passover, a blessed Passover season.  Enjoy it with your family and friends.  Cherish them and let them know you love them.

 

 

 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 11:15pm CDT

 

40 degrees  Partly Cloudy  Wind 7mph north

 

 

Spring is all of a sudden slipping away.

 

There has been a cold wind off the lake all day and there is even a prediction of some snow for Friday evening and Saturday morning.  But the loons seem not to mind it at all.  They are used to the cold water and I think they can deal with the cold even better than they can deal with heat.

 

Yesterday afternoon I had to get in the water to do somethings and I can tell you the loons deal with the cold water better than me.  It was downright painful!

 

Yesterday afternoon I also saw two pair of loons and one single loon on the lake.

 

Then last night I saw 3 different pairs.  So I am not sure if there are 6 or 7 loons on the lake.  But there are more than we need.  Hopefully some of them are just moving through and that we will not have a lot of fighting for territory.

 

The thought keeps going through my mind wondering if some of these loons are the young from several years ago.  But there is no way of telling for sure so it can only be conjecture.

 

This afternoon there were a number of yodel calls.  As you will remember, a yodel is very much a territorial call and is made only by the male.  I could see two loons in the area where the calls were coming from but they did not seem to be fighting.  By the time I was able to get the binoculars and look, I could only see the two loons who were swimming together.

 

One of the times they yodeled, I saw an eagle flying over the lake and I am fairly certain that yodel was an alarm call about the eagle.

 

We are still working on getting everything up and running and ready to go.  We have live picture going to South Africa and they are working on their end of things to make sure we can bring everything to you live.

 

This afternoon I got another email from Carol Jansky at St John's University about "Big John".....

"After 5:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, Big John moved to Sagatagan.  I checked Sag yesterday (Tuesday)  and found one loon (slender neck) by the islands while Big John was still on Gemini.  Sagatagan was still mostly black ice--the ice had retreated from the shores 5-10 meters and there were a few cracks in the main part of the lake.  Today, the ice has retreated much more and when I checked at noon I saw Big John and another loon swimming together.  I'm pretty sure that it is his mate (or at least who's mating with this year) because they did a little bit of coordinated splash diving.  He would hoot for her if he surfaced first which was often the case.  (There was actually quite a bit of hooting going on.)  I watched from the beach (north end of the lake)  and when they neared me, Big John yodeled twice.  (I guess for my benefit, there was no other loon there.)  The first yodel had 3 repeating phrases, the second only had 2 repeating phrases.  The female interrupted him with a short tremelo.
It is good to have him back!"

 

Tonight one of the Twin Cities television stations did a short story about the return of the loons and about "Big John" in particular.  They interviewed Carol as part of it and also Carrol Henderson from the Minnesota DNR.  You may want to check on their website to see if they have a link to the story.  It was on WCCO-TV, Channel 4 in Minneapolis.

 

I will try to keep you up to date as things progress.

 

But just know that loons are on the move all across the country!

 

 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 3:45pm CDT

75 degrees   Bright Blue Skies and Sunshine   Wind  South 4 mph

The news keeps coming faster and faster!

I just got home a little while ago and the man who is here installing new underground cable for the LoonCam said he had seen 2 loons right out in front and that they had been doing a lot of calling.

Then one of the neighbors told me that she had also seen and heard them.

When I went down to the lake to look through the binoculars, lo and behold there were not only 2 loons on the lake!  There were at least 5!

There are 2 pairs and one loon that looks like a single loon.

Which ones are 'our' loons?  I don't have a clue.  Although one pair has been swimming closer to the area where the nest has been in past years so I would have to guess that it might be that pair.  But it is only a guess!

The important thing is that there are loons on the lake.

That will be the case for more and more lakes as they move farther north throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin and Michigan and New York and all of New England.  And then all will be 'right with the world' once again!

There is also news from Carol Jansky at St John's University.  "Big John"  [loon #55480] is back on campus!  Apparently eager to "get back to school"!  He is not on Sagatagan Lake yet but is very close.  Here is Carol's note from earlier this morning....

"As Kevin probably already knows, “Big John” is back on campus.  He’s been on East Gemini (the bigger of the lakes as you drive in) since early this morning.  Sagatagan is still pretty ice-filled, but Gemini has broken up quite a bit.  We are all excited to have him back!   Carol"

The techies are busily working on all the things that have to happen behind the scenes to get the LoonCam up and running.  And I am working on the nesting platform.

We will bring it to you live as soon as we can.  I will try to let you know our progress as we go along.

But the important thing is already in place.  The loons are here.  They have done their part so far.  Without them, the view on the LoonCam would be pretty boring.  Then the next big step is for them to actually use the platform and build a nest and lay eggs.  All of that is out of our hands.  At times like that we once again realize how powerless we are and how little control we have over anything this wonderful

Monday, April 11, 2011 11:40pm CDT

 

  

Events start to come much faster now.

 

The news increases in not only speed but amount.

 

The changes of spring comes at us from all directions and at times comes close to overwhelming our senses.  But the wonder of it all fills us with awe and gratefulness for all that has been placed into our lives and all around us.

 

Tonight I arrived back home shortly after dusk.  It was almost dark but still light enough to see the changes that had taken place.  Most of the ice is out of the lake!  Talking with some neighbors, it went out today.  It will take another day or two for it to be completely ice free but there is definitely enough room and open water for loons.

 

One of the residents on the lake said that tonight they saw two loons!

 

So they are back!  And they are back on the day the ice went out.  How do they do it?  We can only stand back in wonder of what they do.

 

Are they 'our' loons?  Who knows.  I have not had the privilege of seeing them yet.  Or are they just a pair passing through and stopping here while they wait for lakes farther north to open up?  We will just have to wait and see.

 

But we have arrived at the time we have been waiting for.  The arrival of the loons!

 

There will still be a few days at least before I will be able to get into the lake and put the nest out.  But we are getting close.  Tomorrow some of the 'techies' will be here running cables and hooking up servers and all the other amazing equipment that allows us to send live pictures to you from a loon nest.  Where else can you watch the beauty of nature unfold right before your very eyes and you watch them as if you were only a couple feet away.  But you can do it without them even knowing you are there.

 

Now is the time to give a 'heads up' to your friends and family and schools and teachers to let them know that it will not be long before the LoonCam is LIVE once more!

 

It is noisy here tonight!

 

With the lake now mostly ice free, the seagulls are here by the thousands!

 

So from the lake, there is the almost deafening sound of all those seagulls.  And from the little pond in the woods, from the other direction there is the sound of thousands of spring peepers and frogs.

 

It is like there is 'dueling wildlife' tonight!

 

Today there is also news that Loon #55489 just moved from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Lake Erie near Cleveland, Ohio.  So if you are near Lake Erie, you may want to make a trip down to the shore to see if you can spot some of the loons on Lake Erie.  And if one of them has an antenna sticking out of his back.... looking like your kid's radio control car ..... that is our loon #55489!

 

He apparently did it in one of those marathon flights and may have flown all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Erie in one non-stop flight.

 

Loon #55488 is still on eastern Lake Erie northwest of Erie, Pennsylvania, near the Pennsylvania-New York border.  So once again, if you live near that area, you may be able to spot many loons there including #55488.  They probably won't stay long.  So now is the time to look for them if you have the opportunity.

 

Loon # 55490 has started moving farther north on Lake Michigan and is now near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

And loon #55484 is still near the Illinois-Indiana border on Lake Michigan.

 

At least three of the loons seem to have transmission problems but apparently are still alive.  It may be a bent antenna or something like that and it prevents them from getting an accurate location for them.

 

Every day that passes now gets more exciting.  So don't miss one of them.

 

Check back here often to see what is happening and share your experiences and your observations with everyone in the Loon Chat Room.

 

I just gets better and better!