Wednesday, June 15, 2011 6:27am CDT

57 degrees  Rain  Wind 3mph  E

Maybe the first question to answer this morning is not about the loons, but about the 'loon' who wanted to go skydiving!

Unfortunately, we could not go.  (Or was it 'fortunately' we could not go!)

There were thunderstorms moving through the area yesterday afternoon and so it was canceled.  We are now trying to reschedule it sometime in the next couple weeks.

So, I am safe!

Since I had some time that I had not planned for, I was able to get out on the pontoon yesterday afternoon for the first time this year.

I found 'our' loons about a quarter of the way around the lake peacefully swimming and feeding.  The adults were busily diving and catching minnows that the chicks eagerly gobbled down as soon as they were offered.  There was no lack of an appetite.

No wonder they grow so fast.

And for the first time I was able to confirm with my own eyes the reliable reports given me by others, that there is indeed another pair of loons with two chicks on the other side of the lake!

As far as I know, this is the first time in modern history that there have been confirmed reports of two successfully nesting pairs on this lake.

It was gratifying to see.

From their size, I would guess that the two chicks on the other side of the lake are maybe a couple days younger than 'our' loons.  It is hard to guess exactly without seeing them up very close, but they definitely looked a little smaller and I would guess that they are a couple days younger.

Both pairs of chicks seem to be doing very well and are very active.

This morning marks the two-week birthday of 'our' second chick!

While there is nothing 'magical' about the two-week mark, chicks successfully surviving the first two weeks of their life seem to have dramatically better chances of surviving to adulthood and fledging.  So that is very good news for our chicks this morning.

They still could be injured by snapping turtles.  Or they still could easily be taken by a bald eagle.  But their chances of making it to adulthood go up dramatically.

I cannot see them anywhere from the view from the house.  They are nowhere near the nest.  But I am sure they are out there in the rain somewhere.

This morning is a gray, cloudy, rainy morning.

The rain is just a slow, steady, 'soaking' rain right now.

The forecast is for 70 to 80% chance of rain and thunderstorms throughout the day today.  So it is going to be a wet day.  But I do not think that at this point they are predicting anything severe developing out of these thunderstorms.

But that is good.  We have needed the rain.

It is a good morning to either go back to bed or to snuggle up with a good book - obviously a book about loons!

It is the type of morning when you are canoeing in the Boundary Waters that you sit under the tarp around the campfire, drinking a cup of hot chocolate and wondering if you should pack up and continue on your journey in the rain.  Or just stay put in this camp space for today and wait out the rain.  And try to stay dry.

While it is wet and rainy for us, for the loons it is 'just another day'.  

The rain affects them very little.

Questions or Comments?  LoonCam@yahoo.com

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 7:27am CDT

 

60 degrees  Partly Cloudy  Wind 6mph SE

 

 

Four loons swim peacefully some distance out in the lake from the nest - two adults and two chicks.

 

They are doing well.

 

It is two weeks ago this afternoon that the first chick was hatched.

 

So much has happened since that time.  And the chicks have grown so much.  Their bodies have lengthened and their bills have begun to lengthen from the first time we saw them as little chicks just two weeks ago. The chicks bodies are close to half the length of the adult already.  They are beginning to look more like loons.

  

They still have the brownish down but now it is starting to look a little more tousled.  This picture is not of 'our' loons but is very much how they look this morning.

http://krcarver.zenfolio.com/p896543188/h29f57d2a#he669302

 

When they are feeding they still eagerly accept any and all food offered by their parents.  As the adults dive for more minnows, the chicks will put their heads partway under water and watch what is going on.  It is known as 'peering'.  It may very well be a critical part of their learning as they watch how their parents pursue and catch minnows and other small fish.

 

It won't be more than a few weeks before the chick will be expected to catch some of his own food.

 

But on this quiet morning, the loons are relaxing.  Just calmly swimming tightly next to each other.

 

Life is good.

 

I see some of you were able to see the fireworks on Sunday night.  That is where we were.  I love fireworks.  It was late when I got home from the fireworks.  As I read some of your comments, I just could not bring myself to shut down the camera.  I was going to leave it going and shut it down in the middle of the night.  But then I fell asleep.  When I woke up, it was already 4am and the first hints of dawn were appearing.

 

So then I could not shut it down and deprive you of the view of another dawn.  And hopefully one more view of the loons.  Unfortunately they stayed well away from the camera so you were not able to see them.  But I hope you enjoyed a little extra time with the view of the nest that our loons called home.

 

Pray for me.  This afternoon I am going skydiving!  I think I temporarily lost my mind when I agreed to do it!  There are thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon so that may save me!  But otherwise we will be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane!

 

 

Questions or Comments?   LoonCam@yahoo.com

Sunday, June 12, 2011 5:49am CDT

45 degrees   Clear   Wind Calm

Banks of fog drift across the lake on a cool, quiet June morning.

The sun will burn the fog off soon.  But for now, there are two little loon chicks sitting on the calm surface of the lake.

They start to swim toward an adult who has just surfaced with a minnow in its beak.  It is quickly gobbled down.  Then the other adult surfaces with another minnow and just as quickly it is gone.  Both loons dive. This is no time to slow down.  

There are two little loon chicks that are hungry for breakfast.

And so dive after dive.  Minnow after minnow.  Time after time, the routine is repeated.

One of the times a small sunfish is brought instead of a minnow.

It is almost the size of a silver dollar.

It looks too big for the chick to swallow.  The adult loon holds it out for the chick.  The chick drops it.  But the adult immediately grabs it before it can get away.  The adult works on it with its beak in the water and then offers it again.

The other chick takes it but doesn't know what to do with something so big.  So it drops it as well.  Once again the adult loon works on it with its beak to prevent it from escaping.  The offering and failed attempts to swallow the sunfish happens several times.

Finally one of the chicks gets ahold of it just right and has it facing the right direction.

The chick stretches its neck as the sunfish is pointed head first down its throat.  Will it go?

It tries and tries.  It keep swallowing and gulping.

And then down the sunfish goes.  Several more gulps are necessary to keep it moving.  But it is down.  A big meal in those few gulps.

The chick sits for a minute or so.  But then it is ready for even more minnows.

The constant supply of minnows continues.

No wonder the chicks grow so fast with such a supply of food.

In fact, that is one of the requirements for a lake which will support loons.

It must have an abundant supply of small fish or minnows.  And it must have clear water.  Loons fish by sight.  And in order to catch the number of fish and minnows that they need not only for themselves but also for their chicks, they need to be able to have a clear view of the fish in order to catch them easily.

This morning the loons have exactly what they need.

The supply of small fish and minnows is endless.  And so it seems is the ability of the chicks to swallow everything that is brought to them.

At this rate, their survival seems guaranteed.

[Later tonight we will turn the Loon Cam off for the year.  But just know that right now the chicks are doing very well and thriving.]

Questions or Comments?  LoonCam@yahoo.com

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