Monday, April 16, 2012 10:06 am CentralLoonTime

34 degrees F   Cloudy   Wind 20mph NW

The drama never seems to end, does it?

It looks like we avoided a disaster.

With all of the extreme wind and bouncing of the floating platform from these storms, the very expensive camera was in danger of going for a swim in the lake.  And trust me, I have been there (again) and it is not really time for anyone other than fish or loons to be swimming!

Early this morning, I thought the good folks at Broadband had found a way to zoom out.

But alas, such was not the case.

The camera was leaning over and thinking about going in the lake!

That had been my first thought when I saw the "new view" early this morning.  And I was concerned.  But when I looked with the binoculars, it did not look like the camera mount was leaning.  So I thought they had found a way to zoom out further than before.

What I did not realize was that the camera was leaning directly at me so it did not look like it was leaning at all.

So I went on about other work oblivious to what was happening.  Oblivious that is until until Mark, the President of Broadband, called me and asked if there was something wrong with the camera, that it looked like it was leaning.

When I looked at the picture online, it was obvious that it had changed even more.

So I quickly looked with the binoculars and now it was also obvious that the camera mount was leaning and in danger of going in the water.

At that point, things happened VERY fast.

I changed and got ready to go back in the lake.  There was no time to even look to see if the loons were in the area (fortunately they were not).  I grabbed some tools and some rope and tried to figure out what I was going to do when I actually got out there and could see what was happening.  Hopefully it was something that I would be able to fix quickly and get out of there before the loons even saw me.

Oh man that water is cold!

Colder than it has been before.  But I guess that is not surprising with the cold wind, cold rain and even some snow this morning.

I am sorry that I could not warn any of you of what was going to happen.  There was no time for that.  I am sure it was a shock to some of you to see the picture change suddenly and hear what must have been a terrible noise as I straightened the camera mount.

I tried tightening the bolts at the base of the camera mount but they were already pretty tight.  It is just that a combination of the wind being so strong and the rocking of the raft were able to dislodge the camera mount.

I quickly tied a rope from one corner of the raft to the top of the camera mount.  Once in a while you may catch a brief glimpse of it in the lower left hand corner of the picture.

But that camera mount should not move again.  Famous last words.  Among engineers we have a word "kluge" which means to fix something in whatever way you can.  I have to say that the word applies here.  But I think and hope that this "kluge" will work and hold.  And I hope that we are done with any more drama and the wind fairly soon.  They are saying by this afternoon the winds should start to die down.  I hope they are right.

I headed back up to the house to dry off and warm up.

The loons had not seen me.  Or had they?

Had they seen me and decided that they were comfortable with whatever I was doing.

I can almost hear them talking, "Yeah, that guy is down there monkeying around with our house again!  But he never seems to do any damage so I am not sure I even want to swim all the way over in this wind to ask him what he is doing now."

No loons in sight, so I was happy that it had gone as fast and well as it had.

A few minutes after I had been in the house and gotten dried off and in dry, warm clothes, I looked down and there was one of the loons swimming some distance away from the nest.  So I hadn't been able to fool them.  They had seen me out there.  But they apparently figured it was not a crisis for them ... even though it was a crisis for me.

Now you know a little of the behind the scenes of what went on and what the sudden movement and terrible noise was.  I know that some of you enjoyed the increased view of the lake, as did I.  Unfortunately we were seeing it for all the wrong reasons.

So our attention shifts back to the loons.  Where it should be.

They have been up on the nest several times this morning.  But no mating that I have seen.

We get closer and closer!

And the anticipation builds.

Comments or Questions?   LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com

Monday, April 16, 2012 6:26am CDT

34 degrees F     Rain    Wind 22mph N

On a miserably cold, windy and rainy Monday morning, two loons bob in the waves just out from the nest.

They seem to be content to just bob up and down on the waves.  Everyone else is huddled up against the wind and the cold.  Winter has returned.

But at least so far, this is no snow accumulation as was predicted, although I have seen some snow flurries.  Ahhhh, yes!  "The Theatre of Seasons"!

Not too much further north, there has been accumulation of snow.

But with the temperatures here, this rain could still turn to more snow that sticks to the ground.  And the nest.  The weather man had been predicting accumulations of up to one inch of snow.

You were probably as disoriented as I was this morning when you first saw the new view from the camera.

After being told that the camera was zoomed out as far as it could go, the 'miracle workers' have apparently found a way to zoom out further.  This morning you are seeing much more of the lake.  For those of you who get motion sickness, you may want to get a new prescription of Dramamine!

My first reaction when I saw the new view was "Oh no.  The wind and waves have dislodged the camera!"  But as I look closer, I think/hope that the camera is still firmly mounted and that we are truly just looking at an expanded view that has been zoomed out.  Thanks guys!

We still have strong winds from the storm systems that are moving through the central part of the country and the waves that they produce are bouncing the nest around pretty good.  Usually that does not seem to be a detriment to the loons.  They are used to bouncing up and down on waves.  And I don't think one of them has ever gotten seasick.

Their human counterparts - that may be a different story!

A lot happened yesterday.

The biggest thing was that the loons mated on the nest several times yesterday.

They are spending much more time around the nest this morning than they have previously.

That is the most encouraging sign yet that they are definitely taking ownership of the nest and that we may see more serious nest-building activity soon.

That is, if the nest survives!

One of the dangers in this kind of wind and waves is that the nesting material will just wash away.

So far things seem to be holding together.

It has been a problem in previous years where some of the nesting material has washed away.  And that is also a real problem with loon nests in the wild.  Sometime nests just plain wash away.  Even with loons and eggs on them.  This is especially true in lakes where the water level changes dramatically.

If the water level rises, it can literally inundate and drown a nest.  If the water level goes down dramatically, it is possible that the loons would not be able to get up on the nest.  These are things that happen every day in the wild but that we never see.  And since we never see it, we never stop to think about it happening.

One of the advantages of a floating nesting platform like this is that it can adjust to either rising or falling lake levels and protect the nest from either drowning or being left high and dry and inaccessible.  By rising and falling with the waves, it also helps to minimize the washing away of nesting material a little bit.

But even with all of that, there are no guarantees.  The nest is still vulnerable.

As you watch the waves this morning, you will see some waves that actually break over the nest or spray water high over the nest.

Oh what the loons have to put up with that we never even think about.

The last couple nights we have also had our old friend, Mr Muskrat, back.

He has been up on the nest several times running back and forth.  I am not sure what he finds so interesting about the nest.  But he sure seems to like to 'inspect' everything.

I don't worry about what he might do to the loons.  He is the one who is danger if he gets too close to the sharp beak of a loon.  I heard some gnawing sounds last night I think.  It was hard to tell with the noise of the wind and the loon nest rocking on the waves.  But my biggest concern about the muskrat is that he would gnaw through the cables coming from the camera.  If that happens after the loons are on the nest, that would be the end of our viewing for the year.

So we need loons up on the nest to convince the muskrat that this is not a safe or friendly place for him to be.

The forecast is for much of this week to be rainy and cold.

What is the old saying?  'April showers bring May flowers'!

So today, we wait for May flowers.  And sunshine.

And LOONS!

Comments or Questions?   LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com

Sunday, April 15, 2012 7:34am CDT

54 degrees F   Cloudy and Rain   Wind 1mph NE

A Canada goose swam just a little too close to the nest and was told in no uncertain terms by the loon that he was not welcome there.  And the goose went quickly flying towards shore to get away.

The loons have definitely taken ownership of the nest.

They still do not spend a lot of time on or even near the nest.  But they do watch it closely, if even from a distance.

Let something or someone approach the nest and the loons will likely appear out of 'no where' to defend their home.

There has been a little bit of nest building activity, but very minimal so far.  So far, I think there has been only one instance of mating with some other half-hearted attempts.  There will in all likelihood be several more matings before the first egg is laid.

As time for laying an egg approaches, the loons will spend more and more time on and around the nest.  There will be some rearranging of material on the nest.  The loon will use its legs to dig a bowl in the nesting material.  Then one day nest building activity and the rearranging of nesting materials will become more serious and a definite "bowl shape" will be formed and within a few days of that happening, the first egg will be laid.

Loons normally lay two eggs.  Once in a while they will lay only 1 egg and rarely they will lay 3 eggs.

The eggs are quite large and it takes a lot of energy from the loon to produce them.  The egg is easily three times the size of a normal chicken egg that you are familiar with from your own breakfast or from baking.

A loon egg is a dark olive brown with even darker brownish/black spots.  This coloring helps it blend in well with the nesting material.

I mentioned yesterday morning that we would maybe try to do something about the nightvision.

The cam is rated for nightvision but for some reason it was not picking up enough and the picture was basically black at night.

We were able to obtain another infrared light that we installed last night.

I mentioned that we would have to shut the camera down briefly while we installed the new light so that we were not working with live electricity while in the water.  I had planned on giving you a warning that we would be shutting the camera down but when we saw the opportunity to do it when the loons were no where in sight, we had to act quickly.  So I apologize that I did not get a chance to give you a written warning before we shut the camera down.

I had really expected that the loons would immediately be there when I went out to mount the new light on the platform.  So as I walked out to the nest to attach the new light, pulling a new cable, I watched and expected the loons to show up at any moment.

We had carefully planned out what we were going to do and how we were going to attach the light so that hopefully we could do it as quickly as possible and cause the least amount of disturbance and stress for the loons.  All of you know how much I hate to go anywhere near the nest when the loons are around.  We and the neighbors even minimize the amount our activity along the shore while the loons are nesting.  Without the support of neighbors who also care about the loons, it would be impossible to do this looncam.  I am eternally grateful to them.

I arrived at the nest with the new infrared light and worked as hurriedly as possible and to yet 'do it right'.  All the while I kept watching for the loons and expecting them to show up at any moment.

As I worked, I was surprised that I did not see the loons coming in.

We had carefully checked the whole lake with binoculars before we started and we could not see the loons anywhere.  That is why we decided to act quickly while they were out of sight.  But I have seen that before where the loons are no where in sight.  But let something approach the nest and as if by magic, the loons just appear out of 'nowhere'.

I finished mounting the new light on the camera and routed and secured the new cables.

And then I was headed back to shore.

I was totally amazed that we had been able to do the whole operation without the loons even knowing!

Or had we?

I had no sooner reached shore than Mark, the president of BroadbandMN said, "Is that one of the loons coming in now?"

I turned around and looked and sure enough.  There was a loon out towards the middle of the lake and he was headed toward the nest.

Wherever he had been on the lake, he had seen us and was coming over to investigate.  Then the other loon surfaced near the nest.  We had been able to do the whole operation without the loons being there.  But we had not done it without them knowing.  They knew.  And they were watching.

But we had been able to do it without causing any distress to the loons and that was the important thing.

The loons swam around the nest for a few minutes, apparently just to satisfy themselves that these strange creatures had not done anything to the nest that they did not like.  And once they were satisfied, they swam out into the lake from whence they had come.

I am ever so grateful to Mark and Anthony and Lance, the great folks from BroadbandMN who do SO much work behind the scenes to take care of a thousand and one technical details which enable you to miraculously watch a loon on a nest in the great north of Minnesota.  No matter where you are in the world.  They also are working on the sound levels to see if they can raise them a little for you so that you can hear the 'sounds of the lake' a little clearer.

Last night you were finally able to see the nest because of the new light.

It was very bright and looked like there was a huge spotlight on the nest.  We will look at what we can do to possibly make some adjustments to the light.  Some of you have wondered if that 'bright light' won't disturb the loons.

The light is an infrared light and so they do not see it.  If you would look at the nest in person, you would not see any light at all either.  So it does not disturb them.

The first year we put a camera on the nest before we were live on the web, the camera had a light built into it that could be turned on at  night.  I thought this will be great.  For the first time ever we will be able to see what loons do at night when they are on the nest.

So the first night I turned the light on.

The loon looked up a the light and immediately left the nest.  She was off the nest for about 15 minutes and she refused to get back up on the nest as long as the light was on.  She swam right by the nest but she would not get back up on the nest.

So I reluctantly turned off the light, disappointed that what had seemed like a good idea did not work at all.

The next day I thought I would fool the loons.

I would turn the light on during the day and as it gradually got dark the light would just be there and the loons wouldn't notice or care.  They would just think it was another "moon"!

The loon on the nest could have cared less when I turned it on in the broad daylight.  She did not even seem to notice or care.  Yes, this was working out brilliantly.

But as darkness came, she began looking up at this 'new moon' in her sky.  And she knew it was not right.  She got off the nest and would not return as long as the light was on.  It was a repeat of the night before.  She swam nearby but she would not get back up on the nest.

My "brilliant" idea had not been so brilliant at all.  Literally.

So once again I reluctantly turned the light off and she immediately got back up on the nest.

The mysteries of what a loon does on a nest at night would have to remain their secret for a few more years.  Until a few years ago when we were able to successfully use infrared lights to open up a whole new world of observing loons throughout the night as they are on the nest.

So now that we have the new infrared light on the nest, enjoy watching what loons do at night.

Today promises to bring rain.  Possibly heavy rain at times and even the threat of severe weather.  The forecast says that most of the severe weather will stay well to the south of us.  Our hearts go out to the people in Oklahoma who died last night in a breakout of severe weather and possibly tornadoes.

We do not need high winds or severe weather for the loons.  Rain is absolutely no problem for them.  But severe weather can do damage to the nest.

There is even a chance of SNOW for tonight!

So watch and see what happens today.

Hopefully you will be watching when the loons make their ever so brief appearances at the nest.

Comments or Questions?  LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com

Saturday, April 14, 2012 6:27am CDT

42 degrees F    Partly Cloudy   Calm

We have waited all winter!

And now the time is near.

Our loons are back.  They have shown interest in the nest.

They not only have shown interest in the nest.

They have been up on the nest several times and have even mated.

The sun is just coming up.  With its first rays dappling the lake, the two loons have come in and are swimming nearby the nest.  They have been up on the nest once this morning already.  Then out into the lake and now back for a 'swim by'.

Further out in the lake, two pair of geese are trying to decide if they can get along or if they need to confront each other.  A couple other pair swim off by themselves but one pair looks like they want to investigate the loon's home.  Will the loons allow it?

Soon the loons come swimming back and the geese decide they do not want a confrontation with a loon and they noisily fly off.

The loons are definitely making a statement to any and all comers that "This is our territory.  Enter at your own risk."

We continue to try to decide what more we can do with the camera to add an infrared light for night viewing.  It is still a mystery why the camera worked in a "no light" situation before when it was tested but is not giving us a good picture at night now. 

If we are able to do something, we must do it quickly before the loons actually begin their nest.  They may have located a light for the camera and if we can get it, we may try this afternoon.  If we are able to do it, we would have to shut the camera down for a little while to be able to install it.  But so much depends on what the loons are doing today.

I will try to let you know later if we think we can do something with it.

I think the view that we have with the cam is what we will have for this year.  I had also thought with the zoom feature that we would be able to zoom out further to see more of the lake.  But it seems as if this is the furthest out that the cam can zoom.  Oh well, live and learn.  We will have  a great view of the loons.

As to the initial positioning of the camera, it is always a guessing game.  We have to position it to take in the maximum area of the raft since we never know where the loons will decide to build the nest itself.  And that is the important part - that we are able to see the loons.  If we see a bunch of the lake and the loons are cut off at the bottom of the picture, no one would be very happy.  So we try to make the best guesses but are ultimately at the mercy of the loons.

Like I have said before, for two weeks before the loons actually nest, I become this paranoid person wondering if they will use the platform this year and once again grace us with their presence.

I am starting to relax a little bit now that they are taking more and more ownership of the nest.  But it is still a big unknown exactly where on the raft they will build their nest.

The loons do not seem to care much one way or the other about the pansies.  And the pansies are looking a little worse for the wear right now.  Once the loons get the nest bowl built, the will not be on other sections of the raft as much.  So if the pansies survive the loons pulling in material to build the nest, they may survive to bloom another day!  Or they may end up IN the nest.

The other plants that are on the nest are irises and daylilies.

Both of these are more hardy than the pansies and able to take abuse and even pulling and pecking and crawling over them.

But it looks like the first drama of the year is 'will the pansies live to see another day'?!

Tune in, same 'pansy time', same 'pansy channel' each day to see the 'nest episode' of "As The Pansy Turns"!

For those of you in Minnesota and Wisconsin, just a reminder that we will be talking about "Amazing Loons" at the Sandhill Center for the Arts in Bethel, Minnesota next Tuesday at 11am.  I know they were almost full a couple days ago.  But you can get more information at their website.  http://www.stfrancisce.com/insight/registry/classinfo.asp?courseID=4834&catID=1045

We are supposed to get thunderstorms later on today.  It is sounding like it will be late tonight when they get here.  Maybe after midnight.  Hopefully nothing will be severe.  As of right now, the forecast seems to be putting the more severe parts of the storms well to the south of the loon nest.  Let's hope.  In fact, let's hope that nobody gets anything severe.  But this IS spring in the central part of the United States.  And severe weather is just a fact of life.

Have a wonderful day.

Things are starting to get exciting!

Comments or Questions?    LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com

Friday, April 13, 2012 7:52am CDT

50 degrees F   Cloudy   Wind 3mph E

The action on the loon nest starts to pick up.

I was at a speaking engagement last night so I missed what happened. 

But from reports here we had our first mating of the year!

The loons have also been up on the nest already this morning.

This is VERY positive evidence that they will probably use the nest this year.

We are discussing what to do about the night vision and are not sure why there is not more than what you are seeing now.  The camera was tested by the Broadband MN people before they brought it out here to the lake and they said they had good night vision.  So they/I have been surprised at the black picture so far.  Except we have not had a warm-bodied loon up there either.

They have ordered a supplemental infrared light.

Whether we will be able to install that next week when it comes, is unknown.

We will just have to wait and see what the loons are doing at that point and if we dare try to add it to the camera.  I am sure the loons would come in to see what we are doing.  Whether they would get upset or overly concerned is a call that we would have to make then.

Yesterday I planted a couple pansies on the nest to give some color.  (Thanks for the suggestion.  It is probably the first time that loons anywhere have had pansies on their nest!)

I watched for sometime before I decided to go out to the nest.

When I did not see the loons anywhere, I thought it would be safe to go out.

I had no sooner gone out there than the loons showed up!

They swam very nearby but did not seem upset or overly concerned at all.

I took only a few minutes to plant the pansies and then left.  As soon as I left, the loons also left and swam out into the lake, apparently satisfied that I was not a threat to them or the nest.

But what followed afterwards, was absolutely wonderful to watch.

They were out in the lake away from the nest.  Both loons started splashing and diving excitedly.  At first glimpse, one could have thought that it was a confrontation.  But I knew this was both loons of the pair.

They preened.  And then splashed.  Just like a small bird in a birdbath.  And then dove. And surfaced.  And did it all over again.  Then surprisingly they actually turned over on their back.  White breast to the sky.  Feet up in the air.  Wings splashing water wildly.

They would right themselves and do some more preening.

And then repeat the whole procedure, including the 'upside down' splashing!

I have seen this behaviour a couple times before but never for this long.

Both loons continued to do this for upwards of half-an-hour to 45 minutes.

Splashing over and over.  Turning upside down and splashing.  Quickly rowing across the surface of the water with their wings.  Preening every feather, especially the wing feathers all the way out to the wing tips.

Preening the black and white "checkerboard" on their backs to make sure every square was just right.

Over and over and over.

The preening and even some of the splashing is a very common occurence.

But the tipping completely over on their back and splashing is something I have seen only a few times before.  And to see them do it this many times and for such a long period of time was a joy to see.

Some of those things are things which I wish we could show you on the camera.  But there is absolutely no way to capture them with the camera.

Today promises rain and thunderstorms.

Hopefully nothing gets severe.

In fact, we are supposed to have rain for the next several days.  We need the rain and the moisture.  And the rain will not affect the loons.  But severe wind could do damage to the nest and the platform.

But with this unusual weather this winter and spring, who knows what to expect.

The last couple mornings we have had very cold temperatures of 23 degrees!  It has been in the teens a little further north.

The forecast for the next few days promises even more bizarre weather.

We are supposed to get snow on Monday.  Yes, you read that right.  Snow!

When I first heard that, I figured it would be just flurries.  But they are predicting accumulation of up to 1 inch is possible!  There is a reason that they call Minnesota "The Theatre of Seasons"!  We will just have to wait and see what happens.

The drama and the excitement start to build.  You don't want to miss a minute.  Now is the time to tell your family and friends and schools and Twitterers and Facebook friends to join us for the fun.

Comments or Questions?  LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com.