Friday, May 11, 2012 5:34am CDT

Travis Frank May 11, 2012

61 degrees F Clear Wind 2mph S

Sunrise 5:47am Sunset 8:32pm

Our loon sits on the nest facing out into the lake surveying all of her kingdom.

Underneath her the precious cargo of two eggs rest safely.

The second egg arrived yesterday morning, slightly less than 24 hours ago.

Now they can get down to serious business. For the next four weeks the loons will seldom be off the eggs except for short periods of time.

The 'normal' incubation period for loon eggs is 28 days. But that can vary from as short as 25.5 days to as long as 30 days. This should place the hatching of the eggs sometime during the first week of June.

So now they settle in for the long haul.

There are still many dangers and still many things that can go wrong. But all the hope of the loons for this year is now tied up in these two eggs.

One of the first challenges for the loons comes tomorrow.

One of the "religious" holidays in Minnesota, almost on a par with Christmas and Easter, comes tomorrow.

It is called the 'Fishing Opener'.

This is the first day of the year that fishermen can legally take game fish, especially Minnesota's favorite fish and official state fish, the walleye. On this day, hundreds of thousands of people load up their boats and their gear and head for the lake. Many of them will head out onto the lake at the stroke of midnight tonight to try their luck at catching fish. And gaining bragging rights.

With all those fishermen comes increased pressure on loons. The increased activity puts fishermen and loons in close proximity of each other. If the fishermen approach too close to a loon nest, they can scare the loon off the nest.

Being scared off the nest one time will not have too much of an effect.

But if they are scared off once by one fisherman, then again by another. And another and another and another. Soon the effect becomes cumulutive and the loons may actually abandon the nest if they are scared off too many times.

A good rule of thumb if you are out in a boat and see a loon nest is to stay a distance away from it.

All of us are curious. We want to see something so interesting and wonderful. And we want to see it up close. So we approach too close and we scare the loons off the nest.

So if you are going fishing or if you know someone who is, encourage them to stay at least 300 feet away from any loons or loon nest. Bring your binoculars with you and watch them that way. By doing that, you will not add to the stress on nesting loons. And you will not be part of a pair of loons possibly abandoning their nest.

One of the other things that fishermen can do is to consider replacing their lead sinkers and jigs with non-lead versions.

Loons have been know to pick up lead sinkers off the bottom of the lake thinking they are a small stone which they need to grind their food in their gizzard. But one lead sinker ingested by a loon is enough to kill him.

Apparently the territorial battles are not over completely yet.

Last night around 8pm the loon was drawn off the nest.

Soon there was some excited diving and splashing by two loons. And then one of them took off frantically rowing and flapping along the surface of the water. He stopped and sat with his head in the water peering underneath him. Then what apparently was 'our' loon would surface near him and he would take off flapping again to get away. Making a tremolo call as he scooted along the surface of the water. A loon, 'our' loon would surface right where he had been sitting.

This occurred over and over.

Finally he decided enough was enough. And he left the area.

And our loon returned to take care of the nest and the two precious eggs.

Once again, peace had returned to the lake. But apparently all loons had not signed the peace treaty and not all of them had agreed on the 'territorial lines' that had been drawn.

What will happen today?

There is only one way to find out.

And that is to watch and not miss a minute of the LoonCam.

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

Thursday, May 10, 2012 10:49pm CDT

Travis Frank May 10, 2012

We have a SECOND EGG.

According to all the faithful viewers and those who post in the chat room, the egg arrived at 7:57 or 7:58am, CDT this morning.

Thank you for all of you who so faithfully watched and documented this for all the rest of us who were not able to watch it live.

Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:08am CDT

Travis Frank May 10, 2012

42 degrees F Clear Calm

Sunrise 5:48am Sunset 8:31pm

One loon on the nest.

The other floating nearby.

The first hints of daylight start to illuminate the surface of a completely calm northern lake. The dark outline of the trees of the opposite shore are perfectly reflected in the mirror of the lake, as is the floating loon.

Little wisps of fog drift across the lake in the chilly morning air.

Elsewhere, other birds are beginning to wake up and start their early morning songs.

All is well with the world.

Today promises to be a spectacular "Minnesota day" with temperatures in the mid-70s, blue skies and bluer lakes. Tomorrow we return to the possibility of thunderstorms.

Will today be the day that we see the long awaited second egg? If past history and experience teach us anything, it could very well be. One would expect that the loons would lay a second egg. But there is no guarantee of it. Sometimes they only lay one egg.

Then we start the countdown to hatching.

The most exciting time when we finally are able to see a little chick peek out from under the adult.

That impossibly cute ball of black down. Whereas some young of birds are downright ugly, there cannot be a person in the world with a heart so jaded who sees a little black downy loon chick with the bright white belly that does not immediately and reflexively say "Awwwwwwww!".

The normally accepted incubation period for loons is 28 days. With a range of 26 to 30 days.

On this particular nest, by being able to so closely observe because of the Loon Cam, we have been somewhat rewriting that commonly accepted wisdom. We have seen eggs hatch in as little as 25.5 days. We can only wait to see what happens this year.

But you are a part of something that loon researchers through the years could only dream about.

They could tell that a loon had laid an egg.

But they never knew for sure exactly when it was laid. And they never got a chance to see it actually BEING laid. But you get a chance at both of them. We can know almost to the minute when the egg was laid. And we can know very closely the time the chick actually hatches.

You may see a number of insects flying around the nest today.

We are in the middle of the mayfly hatch. They hatch, live for only a few hours or a day, and then die. But they emerge by the thousands.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Baetis_tricaudatus_male_subimago_crop.jpg/480px-Baetis_tricaudatus_male_subimago_crop.jpg

They do not bite nor cause any other harm. But sometimes their sheer numbers can be overwhelming as they fly around you. They flutter upwards and then spread their wings and just float down. Then flutter up and float down. Repeating this over and over.

So you may see them around the nest and around the loons. But do not worry. Unlike another fly, which we will talk about some other time, mayflies do no harm to our loons.

Our ever hardy pansies and irises on the nest continue their struggle to survive.

The roots of one of the clumps of irises that was completely uprooted lie exposed to the sun and air. It is questionable if it will survive for the next thirty days. But it is trying.

The yellow pansy was pulled out completely by the loons and now resides in the bowl of the nest. The entire rootball was pulled out along with the plant. Yesterday it even looked like it was trying to bloom even as the loons sat on it.

I wonder if I can get my money back! Do pansies come with a loon moneyback guarantee?

I keep hoping that if the loon continues to sit on the pansy and the rootball, that she may actually hatch a full flat of pansies for me!

Since I will be in meetings all day, I unfortunately will miss the laying of the second egg if it happens today.

So thank you in advance to all of you who so carefully watch and document all that happens on the nest. It is a great service to others who are not able to watch as often.

Maybe there will be another video of the actual laying of the egg if it happens today.

But for now, sit back and enjoy the beauty of 'our' loons.

And marvel at the miracle that is the formation of new life out of nothing.

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

I do eventually read all emails. But because of the volume of them, I am not able to respond personally to each one. But when the same question is asked by several people, I will try to answer it here in the Blog.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 6:22am CDT

Travis Frank May 9, 2012

44 degrees Clear Wind 4mph N

Sunrise 5:49am Sunset 8:30am

Today promises to be a beautiful day for our loons.

Blue skies, mild temperatures, light winds and a break from the rain that we have had so much of.

A few weeks ago, the lake was on the normal to low side. Now it is high. In a couple weeks it has come up at least 8 to 10 inches from all the rain we have had.

This is the type of condition that washes many loon nests away.

They will build them at a safe distance above the water and then the water rises and inundates them. This is the cause of failure of many loon nests. But it is one of the reasons that a floating nest platform like this helps loons nest successfully. When the water rises, the nest rises along with the rising water. And when the water falls, the nest falls with the lowering water.

This morning we still have only one egg on the nest.

Over the last 6 years, the shortest time between eggs on this nest has been 34 hours and the longest time has been 70 hours. We are now at 35 hours since this first egg was laid. So I would expect that we will see the second egg within the next day. But there is no way to predict that for sure.

Loons sometimes will lay only one egg. And rarely they will lay 3 eggs.

Biologists feel that the number of eggs and chicks sometimes is controlled by the amount of food available to the loons. More food, more eggs. Food lacking, less eggs.

In this case, that should not be a problem for these loons. There is plenty of food available for them. The lake has an abundance of small fish and minnows. The loons love minnows, small sunfish and perch.

A loon's diet is made up almost exclusively of fish, with a few water insects, crayfish and leeches thrown in as appetizers.

If a lake does not have a good food supply (in addition to other factors), loons will not nest there.

If we are going to have a second egg (and I have no reason to think we will not), it should happen in the next day-and-a-half. We have had two eggs on this particular nest every year. We have never had only one egg nor have we had three eggs.

The loons have been off the nest more than I would like to see. But they know better what they are doing than I ever could.

The weather has been mild and so there has been no danger from very cold weather.

You will remember that a couple years ago the loons were drawn off the nest on a very cold and frosty morning for over half an hour. That year neither egg hatched and when we x-rayed and examined the eggs it is very probably that they were lost that morning.

The average last frost date for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul is May 10th, tomorrow.

But further north here at the lake, the average date of the last frost for the year is May 20th. So even though the forecast for the next several days is for very nice and mild weather, we could still get some frost yet this spring. I don't expect it but it is very possible.

The territorial battles among loons on the lake is still not over.

You will occasionally hear yodels which is the call made by the male as he stakes out his territory.

I have seen a couple chases and confrontations between loons over the last few days. But for the most part, the yodel calls are simply the male broadcasting to anyone within earshot that this is his territory.

Another resident on the lake told me last week that he had seen another loon building a nest in the same general area where a pair built a nest last year. Last year was the first year in my memory when two pairs of loons had built nests on this lake and both of them had two chicks and successfully raised them to adulthood.

This other pair of loons (and maybe a single loon or two) probably explains the territorial battles that we have seen and explains some of the tremolos and yodels that you have heard.

I guess that we can be thankful that there has been an abundance of loons here. Most states do not have any loons at all. And they are the poorer for the lack of this beautiful bird with its unique haunting calls.

So today we once again wait for an egg. The next egg.

You now know the signs to watch for to know that an egg laying is imminent.

Will it be today?

Once again, we can only watch and wait. We are merely spectators in this great drama.

The loons are the actors. The loons are the ones on stage. The loons are the stars.

Comments or Questions?

LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 5:12am CDT

Travis Frank May 8, 2012

50 degrees Cloudy Wind 1mph SW

Sunrise 5:50am Sunset 8:28pm

Yes, WE HAVE AN EGG!

It was laid last night sometime after 7pm.

I was not home so I did not see it actually being laid, but I was able to get access to a computer and logged in about 10 minutes after it was apparently laid.

Of those who were watching, they said she was facing the camera so they could not be sure when it was actually laid. But according to them, it was laid at 7:09pm at the earliest or 7:29pm at the latest. From the descriptions, it sounds like 7:29pm may be the most likely.

But whatever time, we know we have an egg. The first egg of this year.

Apparently she has not been on it since people last sighted her at 9:31pm last night.

In the early morning pre-dawn twilight, I can barely make out shapes. But I think I see at least one of the loons floating not too far from the nest. They both may be there but with the binoculars, I am having trouble distinguishing between loons and one of the buoys. But I am almost sure I see at least one of the loons.

Yes, I am a little surprised that she is not on the nest this morning.

But this has been a year of surprises, hasn't it?

I do not think there is any danger to the egg by not having a loon on it overnight. The temperatures have been fairly mild during the night. The main danger of an unprotected egg would have been from predators. With the nest floating about 150 feet from shore, it is safe from the greatest shoreline predators like raccoon and skunks and mink.

But today, if it is unprotected it will be vulnerable to predators like eagles or seagulls.

So it would be good if the loon comes back to the egg soon.

Most eggs from all birds are left uncovered for long periods of time when they are first laid. With little danger of damage. Then when the final eggs are laid (the second egg in the case of a loon), they will be more careful to not let them cool off. But this early, there is not much concern that the loon is not on the egg all the time.

This is the first time that I can remember an egg being left that long after it was laid. I would expect that as daylight comes the loons will remember that they have an egg on the nest and will return to it.

With some of the other behaviors we have seen this year, I keep wondering if this is a young and inexperienced pair of loons. They do not seem to have the smooth surety that we have seen in the past from more experienced loons. But only time will tell. I have great difficulty telling one loon from another with any certainty.

I would expect to see the second egg laid within the next two to two-and-one-half days. But with everything else this year, I will not go out on a limb with a firm prediction. This seems to be a different year.

I had really expected with the mild spring and the early arrival of the loons that we would have seen an early laying of the eggs. Instead we are seeing about the latest times that we have ever seen on this nest.

I am sure the numerous and repeated territorial battles earlier this spring may have had something to do with that.

Those battles may not be totally over.

Early yesterday morning I was surprised to see three loons swimming together not too far away from the nest. The previous evening I had seen what looked like a small loon in the area as what I thought was our pair swam on the other side of the lake.

But yesterday morning, there were definitely three loons swimming together. There was excited splash diving and circling. But no calls and no chases. After several minutes of that excited diving, one of the three loons took off and flew away. The other two then calmly swam together.

Then after midnight last night, I heard repeated yodels and tremolos. When I went down to the lake to see if I could tell where they were coming from, it seemed that two of the calls came from a point straight out from the nest. And an answering yodel from another male loon came from not too far away. In the deep darkness, I could not see anything more than what my ears were telling me.

That says that the territorial battles may not be completely resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

But once again, we can only watch and wait.

Let me say a profound thank you to so many of you who faithfully document what you are seeing on the nest and also recording it with videos and still pictures. It is very much appreciated and it is so helpful to fill in some of the details for everyone else when they are not able to be here. Including me last night.

On one of the videos I watched last night that was made by one of our faithful viewers shortly after the first egg was laid, the loon left the nest and the egg in a great hurry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-DLDePJZ8

If you look at the video, it is probable that she was scared off the nest by an eagle flying over. Once again, I was not home so I cannot confirm that for sure but all the signs are there.

If you watch the video, watch for these signs. The male has gotten up on the nest and is sitting there calmly, but then he leaves the nest suddenly.

You can see the female, as she sits on the egg, tilt her head a couple times and look up into the sky. Then she lets out a little wail and very quickly leaves the nest. That is very consistent with the behavior you would expect when a loon sees their mortal enemy, an eagle.

I mentioned that you should watch for the "X" that a loons wingtips form over the top of their tail. That is the normal position of a loons wingtips.

Now when you see the loon sitting on the eggs on the nest, you will see something different.

When she finally gets settled on the eggs, you will see her lower her wings and place the tips under her tail. But doing so, she forms a nice insulated barrier that protects the eggs from any cold drafts all the way around. Then after she has lowered her wings and placed the wingtips under her tail, she lowers the tail on top of them and locks everything in place. A nice, secure and warm cocoon around the eggs.

Yet one more of the small but amazing things about loons that we see when we take the time to watch carefully.

Now we will wait to see if they come back to the egg and start to take care of it.

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

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