Saturday, June 11, 2011 3:07pm CDT

64 degrees   Mostly Cloudy    Wind  4mph  N

Today is a calm, cool June day on our northern lakes in Minnesota.

And our loons are enjoying it.

The chicks continue to grow at an amazing rate.  Even though they are only  a week and a half old, they are beginning to look more and more like little loons each day.

They will keep their down for several weeks yet.

And they will not get their characteristic full adult black and white coloring for another three years!

The loon chicks will not be able to fly until they are about 11 to 13 weeks old.  So they will be here on the lake until they attempt their first airborne takeoff.  But even after they are able to fly, they will stay here on the lake most of the time.

Then in September and October, the adults will gather together in large groups called 'rafts' and they will begin their migration south.  But they will leave the chicks behind.

The chicks will stay another month before they then also make their first migratory flight down south.  Having never been there before, they will find their way to the Gulf of Mexico or to the Atlantic Coast.  One of the many miracles of loons that makes you ask 'how do they do that?  how do they know?'

While the adults will come back north next spring, the 'chicks' will stay down on the Gulf for the next two to three years before they make their first migratory flight north.  Once again we can only shake our head in amazement and wonder.

When they are on their northern lake homes, they obviously are in fresh water and eating fresh water fish.  However, when they are on the Gulf or the Atlantic, they are on salt water and eating saltwater fish.  Most species are one or the other.  Either fresh water or saltwater.  But not both.  Loons are one of the few that can exist in both environments.

As humans, we cannot drink the saltwater of the ocean or we will die.

What makes it possible for the loons to survive?

Ready for another amazing fact and 'miracle'?

The loons have a special gland at the base of their beak just up between their eyes.

The purpose of this gland is to filter excess salt out of their bodies.  Researchers have found that when they are on salt water, this gland produces an almost continuous flow of extra salty water that escapes through their 'nostrils' as it filters the salt out of their bodies.

Yet one more thing that makes our loons so amazing!

Earlier today, I heard the loons making some excited calls from the lake.  Right away I recognized it as a sound that they make when they are disturbed by something or someone.

I went to look and immediately began looking for eagles, since the sound they were making is the one I usually associate with their call when they see an eagle.

At first I did not see anything.

Then a big adult eagle came soaring overhead.  What a beautiful sight it was as it soared and scanned the lake for fish.  But the loons did not see the beauty of the eagle.  They only saw a very dangerous predator that posed a very real danger to their chicks.

Their calls increased. 

It was then that I saw a second eagle.  And a third!

All three of them soaring over the lake looking for food.

And the eagles did NOT want to be their food for today!

Two of the eagles looked like they may be juveniles so I am wondering if they are from a successful hatch this year and are out on one of their first hunting expeditions.  It seems a little early for that.  But who knows.

After the adult caught at least one fish, the eagles disappeared over the horizon and the loons settled down to swim and fish and rest.

They are venturing further and further from the nest for longer periods of time.  That is why you have not seen them as much.  This is normal for them.  It still amazes me that they have spent as much time around the nest this year as they have.

With them being gone from the area for long periods of time, we will probably shut down the cam for the year on Sunday night.  And then begins the anticipation of next year!

I will still try to periodically keep you up to date on how the eagles are doing and what I can see.  But my blog entries will also become less and less often as there is less to say other than 'the loons are doing well'.

Let me once again say how wonderful all of you have been.  Your profound and heartfelt thanks make all the work worthwhile.  I hope that through the Loon Cam we have been able to add a measure of happiness and richness to your life.  You have truly become an outstanding family of 'loonatics' in the fondest sense of the word!

The loons will get on with their lives and you will have a chance to get on with your lives as well!

Questions or Comments?   LoonCam@yahoo.com

Friday, June 10, 2011 7:04am CDT

51 degrees  Cloudy  Wind  3mph NE

It is a cloudy and misty morning.

A slight breeze forms a few small waves on the surface of the lake.

And somewhere out there are 'our' loons.

I haven't seen them close enough to clearly see both chicks yet.  They are far enough away that it is hard to distinguish them.  But I do not have any reason to not believe that both chicks are doing fine.  They are getting large enough that they are getting safer and safer from most things except eagles.

Each day that goes by now I relax a little more, knowing that their chances of survival increase greatly with each passing day.

With attentive and protective parents, those odds increase even more.  At times, the loons just sit and swim and relax and sleep.  But at other times, the parents are a veritable fish convey for the chicks.  Over and over they dive, catch a minnow and bring it to the chicks and feed them ever so gently.  And then they dive again.  And again.  And again.

I hope that you are enjoying the new view of the iris.

I have been wanting to turn the camera a little to the left so that you could see them.  I know many had commented about the one or two iris you could see.  And yet I knew there were many more that were just out of range of the camera to the left.  Many of them have already finished blooming.  I wanted you to see them before they were gone.

But the loons were always too close to the nest when I was home for me to adjust the camera for you.  I had to wait until they were far enough away before I would go near the nest.  And last night the chance came so I was able to make the slight camera adjustment.

I have watched with great interest this year as they have stayed closer to the nest than normal and have even gotten back up on the nest several times.

I do not have an explanation for it.  I have not seen this behavior of returning to the nest so often.  Once again, when you think you know a lot about them, they teach you something new.

I have seen them return to the nest once or twice in previous years, but not this often.  I think they know that all of you have been so wonderful and supportive that they want to give you one more view of the chicks.  It is like when I mowed for the first time a couple days after they hatched when they came in closer.  Almost as if to say 'have you seen our new babies?!'

Loons will very rarely renest is they have a successful hatch of chicks.  The chicks will occupy their time too much to even think about nesting again.

However, if the first nest fails, loons will sometimes attempt to nest again.  But the chances of the second nest succeeding are probably even less than the first nest.  At some point, you just run out of time - run out of summer - for the loons to lay the eggs, hatch the chicks and then raise the chicks to be large enough and strong enough before the cold and ice settle in for the winter.

So it happens sometimes but it is not real common.

The parents will stay with the chicks for most of the next couple months.  But it is not until the chicks are 11 to 13 weeks old that they will become independent and ready to fish and fly on their own.

Gradually, the chicks will start diving and begin to catch some of their own food.  But even at a couple months old, they are always ready to accept a fish from a parent if it is offered.

I am always amazed watching the parents feed the chicks.

Within a few hours of hatching, one of the parents will come to the chick and offer the tiniest little minnow.  How they are able to even find and catch such a little minnow in the first place is a miracle.  But then to watch them as they ever so gently offer it to the chick is something to behold.  At first the chick doesn't know what it is.  But then it gobbles it down.  And he is hooked.  It is fish for him from that time on.

As the chick grows, the adult brings bigger and bigger minnows.  All appropriate to the size of the chick.  A few times I have seen them bring a minnow that is obviously too big for the chick.  I can just imagine the other loon saying 'what on earth are you thinking!  They will choke on that.'  

And then the loon eats it himself.

Today is a cool day with a little bit of rain. 

It is a good day to fish.  To eat.  To swim.  To relax.

But to always stay alert for danger.

Questions or Comments?  LoonCam@yahoo.com

Thursday, June 9, 2011 7:02am CDT

48 degrees  Cloudy  Wind 4mph NE

The change 24 hours can bring is unbelievable.

On Tuesday, we were struggling with record high temperatures and humidity, which is now blanketing the East Coast.

Then yesterday it was downright chilly.  And windy all day long.

So many times this dramatic of a change in weather involves storms moving through.  This change happened with only a change in the direction of the wind.

The important part though is that our loon chicks are doing well.

And growing so fast.

But they should grow fast with the rich diet of fish that they consume constantly.

I would say that they are easily 4 or 5 times the size they were they hatched just over a week ago.  The rapid change is stunning to see.

They still ride on the parents back whenever they get a chance.

But where both chicks could ride on the back with room to spare, now when both chicks are on the back it is getting pretty crowded up there!

After another week, when the chicks are two weeks old, riding on the back will become less and less common.

Yesterday afternoon, the loons called excitedly from out on the choppy waters of the lake.

There were TWO eagles circling over the lake.  And then a very large hawk also flew over.

But it was the eagles that the loons were concerned about.

And they kept calling until the eagles moved on.

Today promises to once again be a cool and windy day.

But that is fine with the loons.  They are back in their element, water, and can handle almost anything.

And the chicks have grown enough that their chances of survival increase every day.

Things are good!

Questions or Comments?   LoonCam@yahoo.com

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 6:37am CDT

66 degrees   Sunny  Wind  1mph NW

First of all, the all important question.

Our two little loons are doing great!  Under a completely clear early morning summer sky, they are all four peacefully swimming together several houses away to the left of your camera view.

The chicks are in the water swimming back and forth.

It was only one week ago today that the second chick was born shortly before noon.

Only a week and yet it seems so long ago.

The chicks have grown so much.  I would guess that they are at least four to five times as big as they were when they hatched.  They have had an endless rich diet of fish.

The are actually beginning to take on a little more the look of a loon.  The body has definitely lengthened from the small round shape when they were born.  And the beak is beginning to lengthen as well.  The chick is still covered completely in down.  But that down has begun to lighten to a grayish/brownish down as opposed tot he black down when they were first born.

This picture is not of 'our' chicks but it does give you an idea of exactly what they look like right now. 

http://krcarver.zenfolio.com/p896543188/h29f57d2a#h29f57d2a

Today the forecast is for a spectacularly perfect Minnesota summer day with temperatures in the mid-70s to lower 80s and no humidity.

Yesterday we broke through all-time historic temperature records.  Minneapolis was the hottest city in the country.  Here at the lake it reached 105 degrees!  But cooler air has now moved in and the hot air has moved to the eastern part of the country.  For those of you who live there, stay safe.

Last night I finally finished the second mowing of the lawn in that heat and humidity.

A couple days after the loons left the nest, I attempted to mow it for the first time.  I took the top 'two feet' off the grass!  With the loons on the nest, I had not mowed it before then.  I knew I had only 4 options:

1.  Buy a herd of goats.

2.  Call a neighboring farmer to bale it.

3.  Turn it into a jungle preserve.

4.  Or start to hack it down.

I was amazed at how tolerant the loons were.  They were sitting right next to the nest.  I watched to see if they reacted to the sound of the mower.  If they did, I was ready to quit and let the lawn grow some more.

But one of them actually swam in towards me a little ways and sat and watched.  It was as if they were saying, "Have you seen our new babies?"  After watching for almost an hour, they swam a little ways away.  'It is sure boring watching him.  He just goes around and around in circles.'

Last night they sat in some bulrushes several houses down as I mowed.

When I finally finished mowing, the heat had gotten to me.  It was oppresive.

And since the loons were far enough away, it was my chance to go for my first swim of the year.

I sat in the cool water and just watched them.

A flaming sun was just a big bright orange ball hanging low in the western sky.  All the humidity in the air formed a bright halo all around it.  

And there on the  quiet lake swam our loons.  Two big loons.  And two small loons.

Then the male suddenly began broadcasting his yodel call across the lake.

I looked but could not see anything that had triggered his yodeling.

No other loons that I could see.  No eagles flying in the sky.  Nothing.

I chalked it up to the fact that he just wanted anyone who was listening to know that this was his lake.

But then I saw the reason.  Another loon was flying low and was approaching our little loon family.

As I watched, he flew directly over our loon family as they continued to call.  He was low enough that you could actually see him turn his head and look at our loons.  Then he flew directly over my head as he also turned and looked at me.

As the flying loon continued to fly around the perimeter of the lake, when he reached the other side, there was also a yodel from that side of the lake.  Apparently it was the male of the other pair of loons on the lake.  Only then did the flying loon give several flying tremolos.  It looked like he landed over there but it was getting dark enough, I could not tell for sure against the black outline of the trees on the far shore.

Our loons had left the chicks and had gone partway out in the lake to keep an eye on what was going on.

But very quickly they returned to where they had left their chicks.

They were quickly reunited.

As as dark fell, our four loons swam peacefully and safely together.

Questions or Comments?  LoonCam@yahoo.com

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 12:09pm CDT

93 degrees  Sunny  Wind 2mph  S

I was just down by the lake to see if I could spot our loons.  And I did.

Well, at least one of them.

That adult has both chicks swimming around it almost a quarter of the way around the lake.  The camera is pointed right at them but they are so far away that you can't see them.  That will be more and more common as the days go by.  They will swim further and further away from the nest.  So we may be down to our last few days of the webcam.

Once again it is hot and humid here today.

The dewpoint is 70 degrees which is like the humidities of the deep south or of the tropics.

But now the loons can be in the cool water instead of sitting on a nest exposed to the hot sun.

The other adult loon is off someplace.  Most likely on another part of the lake fishing.  That is the difficulty of observing loons.  They can spend a lot of time underwater and you can look right at the area they are and not see them because they are diving underwater.

Just know that the chicks are doing well.  Swimming around with one of the parents.

Questions or Comments?  LoonCam@yahoo.com