Sunday, May 27, 2012 7:27am CDT

Travis Frank May 27, 2012

The loon has finally returned to the nest after just over an hour off the nest.

There have been a LOT of wails as the loon sat just out of view near the nest for the last half hour. Every part of me screamed get back on the nest.

There is a lot that took place during that hour off the nest.

The loon originally left to join its mate just out beyond the buoys. They swam peacefully together for a few minutes.

Then there were flying tremolos as a third loon came flying it. It is "Pencil Neck" (sorry for the unflattering name. It is one of the few times that I give loons names but this one is distinguishable by its smaller size and long 'pencil neck').

Our pair swam out to meet him and the three of them swam together and circled with some splash diving. But no major confrontation.

Then Pencil Neck took flight and circled around the lake. Within a minute or two, both of our loons also took off. They circled the lake 3 or 4 times with lots of flying tremolos before they landed near the nest.

While they were flying around the lake, there were two eagles circling just north of the lake. But the eagles were not the reason for the loons flying nor was there any interaction between the loons and the eagles.

I am not sure where the other mate went but the one loon stayed just outside the buoys giving the wail call over and over.

But finally the loon has now returned to the nest and the eggs.

Sunday, May 27, 2012 5:58am CDT

Travis Frank May 27, 2012

60 degrees Cloudy Wind 1mph E

Sunrise 5:31am Sunset 8:39pm

The loon sits quietly this morning on the nest. Ever alert. Always looking around. Aware of any danger.

The lake is quiet this morning, too. Just a small breeze stirs the surface of the lake.

Clouds mask the rising sun.

But that sun will have its way today. The temperatures are forecast to rise to 90 degrees or above. But for now it is very comfortable for both man and loon.

You can expect to see the loon panting a lot today - sitting with its beak open. It is much like a dog panting on a hot day. A way to get rid of excess heat. Loons are not made to sit on land in the hot sun. They are made to be in the cooling water where they can dive whenever they want. But they sacrifice all of that comfort to incubate and protect their eggs.

The lake level is at very high levels which puts the nest at risk from large waves or wakes from boats. Today it should be somewhat protected from the wind. But with the high temperatures on a holiday weekend, there probably will be many waves from boats. Hopefully they will not be too large or too close.

Today in the sunshine look for one other thing about the loons.

We think that a loon is a simple black and white.

But their coloring is much more complex than that. And in just the right light you can see the subtle effects.

Their head is overlaid with an iridescent green to in just the right light just glows.

Also the collar around their neck is not a simple black. In the right light, it can be a bright turquoise green. It is hard to believe when you see it, but it changes from a basic black to a very bright green. At other times that same collar can be a deep, rich and sparkling blue.

Today if on this hot summer day the sun shines just right on the loons, look for those amazing color variations.

As if the formal black and white that the loons usually aware were not elegant enough, they dress it up with emerald necklaces and beautiful deep green hats.

How much more beauty can the loons add to our lives?

Today look at something else. This illustrates how difficult it is to judge distance and perspective on the LoonCam view of the nest. Remember that from the camera to the far corner of the nest is well over 5 feet. The iris in the foreground that the loons literally pulled out by the roots is doing its best to put down roots where they planted it and is even sending up flower buds.

This iris looks so much bigger than the iris on the far edge of the floating platform. In reality, the iris on the far edge are well over twice as big as the struggling iris in the foreground. That is hard to believe because the iris in the foreground looks at least as big or even bigger than the other irises. But because of perspective and distance, looks can be so deceiving.

The iris on the far edge are at the verge of bloom. Unfortunately the flower stalks rise up just beyond the view of the camera. But their yellow buds will probably burst into full bloom today.

Beauty all around us.

If only we will take the time to stop and look and enjoy and to smell the roses. And be grateful for all the beauty that is put into our lives.

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

Saturday, May 26, 2012 5:44am CDT

Travis Frank May 26, 2012

54 degrees F Partly Cloudy Wind 2mph NNE

Sunrise 5:31am Sunset 8:38pm

It has been a quiet night for the loons.

And quiet for the last day or so. Let's hope that continues.

We have had enough drama this year for two or three 'loon seasons'.

We are now officially into the Memorial Day weekend. And thousands if not millions of people have headed to the lakes all across the country. This is the first big summer holiday weekend for people here in the United States.

Wherever you are, I hope that you will take a few minutes to stop and remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we can have the freedoms that we so often take for granted. Whether you are here in the United States or anywhere around the world remember what others have sacrificed for you..

Here at the loon nest the forecast today is for more thunderstorms throughout the day. While that will help to keep down the boat traffic on the lake, the last thing that we need right now is more water. We have had enough to last us for a while.

We have passed the mid-point 'hump' for the eggs and we are now on the downward slope toward the expected hatching.

Let me go out on a limb here and make some predictions - a very dangerous thing to do! Especially this year.

The 'normal' expected hatch dates would be the evening of June 4th for the first egg and the morning of June 7th for the second egg.

However, if the eggs hatch, I would expect those dates to be earlier.

I would expect that the hatching will take place sometime between June 2nd and June 4th. There I have said it. How silly is that of me to even speculate on when it will be when everything else has been so different this year?

Let me give you a broader range of dates as well.

I would be very surprised to see any hatching before June 1st. And I would not start worrying about a potential hatch until we reach June 9th or 10th. If we get to the 9th or the 10th and there has been no hatching, then concern would start to build as to whether the eggs will hatch.

But this morning, the loon once again sits on the eggs, ever so patient.

I often ask myself if I would ever be willing to do something like that.

But the loons do it day after day.

One thing this year that is so different is that you have to give the male credit for the amount of time he has spent on the nest. He has gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Normally the male and the female loon share nesting duties almost equally. Some studies have shown that the female spends slightly more time on the nest than the male. Maybe 60% to 40%.

Bu this year on this nest, the male has spent much more time on the nest than the female.

Tomorrow the forecast is for the temperatures to reach 90 degrees and sunny for most of the day. That means that many people will come to the lake tomorrow and it will be a very, very busy day on the lake.

Boaters, fishermen, water skiiers, swimmers. Just about any activity you can imagine.

So even if the wind is calm tomorrow, you will probably see waves from the boat wakes hitting the nest.

This floating nest can normally ride up and over those waves. But natural nests can be washed away by high boat wakes. The rise in the lake level because of the heavy rain and the length of one anchor rope is still a concern. There are no easy answers of what to do, if anything, about that.

But we will watch it closely.

All of you know how very averse I am to ever approach the nest while the loons are on it.

So let us hope for the best. No more significant amounts of rain out of these thunderstorms today. And no large boat wakes tomorrow and Monday.

If you are going to be out on the lakes or if you have friends and family that will be, a very gentle reminder to be aware of boat wakes near shore or especially near loon nests would be in order.

Today, we can think about the miracle that is going on inside each of those eggs. The miracle of life itself.

Such things are too wonderful and too big to even try to understand. How a living breathing little loon chick comes from egg white and egg yolk. The very things that we so blithely eat for breakfast on so many mornings.

Yet that is what is happening right now.

And we have the privilege to be ringside spectators of this miracle of life itself.

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

Friday, May 25, 2012 5:52am CDT

Travis Frank May 25, 2012

52 degrees Clear Wind 5mph N

Sunrise 5:32am Sunset 8:47pm

A bright yellow sun shines down on our loons from a bright blue sky.

Both of those have been rare commodities the last couple days with all the rain and thunderstorms. We are now officially at the second wettest May in history for this area.

But today promises to be a spectacular "Minnesota Day"!

The nest has taken a beating over the last couple days with the high water, the wind and the waves. And the loons themselves have not helped matters by removing 'structural' vegetation that underlies the entire nest. That in turn has allowed some of the other material to wash away and you can see the framework of the floating platform itself on the front an back sides.

There is reason for concern but not 'great' concern at this point. It all depends on how much more rain we have in the next couple weeks and how much wind comes with it.

It is something that bears close watching.

Because of all the rain, the lake level has come up at least 6 inches or more over the last couple days. The neighbor's dock is now almost totally underwater and mine is close even though I raised it several inches last week. I measured last night and the water level of the lake is over 12 inches higher than when the loons first returned two months ago!

That rise in lake levels causes me great concern over what is happening to natural loon nests all across this region of the country that has gotten so much rain. I am sure many of them have flooded and have been lost.

But since the nest we are watching is on a floating platform, so far it is ok as it has risen with the rising water.

But we are probably at the limit of the length of one of the anchors ropes that is firmly attached to the bottom of the lake.

It presents a dilemna. I am averse to ever approaching the nest when the loons are actually nesting. I think that is why the loons apparently trust me - they know I am not a threat to the nest. But if there is a danger of the nest going underwater, I would go out to see if there is anything I could do. I would try to wait until a time when the loons are taking a long 'break' from the nest. But those times are few and far between because even when they are off the nest they are usually carefully watching from afar.

The nesting material on the platform has also absorbed a lot of water from the rain over the last few days. That adds a tremendous amount of weight to the nest. But so far the styrofoam and pvc pipe are doing well and holding it up out of the water.

Replacing some of the nesting material that has washed away is not as easy as it sounds.

One cannot just dump more material on the platform. It would quickly wash away as well. The 'structure' that underlies the nest would have to be rebuilt as well. And that would probably take far too long and be far to intrusive to the loons.

So we are left with only difficult choices.

The best choice is to leave everything as it is and hope that the nest survives for the next couple weeks AND that the high waters goes down somewhat. But the level of the lake will not go down overnight even though it did "come up overnight" with all the heavy rain.

Let us hope that we can do that and do not have to intervene in any way.

One of the other dangers, especially this weekend, is wakes from boats. High wakes from a boat can easily wash over a nest. Even when the boat is some distance away. The boaters have not done anything wrong (unless they purposely come close to a nest) but with the high waters, there is not much of a margin for error. So ask your boating friends to just be aware of it.

With this being Memorial Day weekend, if the weather is nice there will be thousands of people who take to the lakes for the first big weekend of the summer.

The view from the webcam is somewhat deceiving. There is still a lot of material on the nest even though some has been washed away. The nest itself still has probably at least 6 to 8 inches of material under the eggs.

Today is forecast to have light winds as is tomorrow. That is a great break for the loons. So let's hope that they have a quiet day in every way.

Some of the strange 'territorial battles' have continued. Let us hope that they have a break from them as well.

So today, let's enjoy the respite and look forward to the day that we see two new little loon chicks hatch.

Watch closely and encourage your friends to watch with you.

Because the time is so fleeting.

Unlike nests where you can watch the chicks hatch and grow for weeks or even months, when the loon chicks hatch, we only have about 24 hours to watch them. Such a short and a fleeting glimpse.

Because with loons, the chicks will usually leave the nest within about 24 hours of hatching.

And then they will be gone. They will be where they were created to be. In the water. Not bound to something as 'uncomfortable' to them as being on land.

So the next few days become more and more exciting as we wait and watch for the eggs to hatch.

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

Thursday, May 24, 2012 6:32am CDT

Travis Frank May 24, 2012

62 degrees F Raining Wind Calm

Sunrise 5:33am Sunset 8:46pm

A steady rain continues on a gray morning.

Some areas of the state are reporting amounts of 4 to 6 inches of rain with more to come. The forecast is for rain to continue for most of today. They are saying that some areas may end up with an unbelievable 10 inches of rain out of this storm!

That amount of rain could raise the levels of some lakes enough that it may flood some nests of loons or other nesting waterfowl.

But for our loons, flooding the nest is not a problem - unless we run out of anchor rope on the floating platform.

Today is the two week mark for the laying of the second egg. So we are officially at the half-way mark to expected hatching.

You probably have watched the loons carefully position the eggs near the back of their body as they adjust them when they get on the nest.

Many birds have what is called a 'brood patch'.

The brood patch is an area of bare skin on the breast or stomach of a bird. This bare skin allows the bird to more efficiently tranfer their body heat to the eggs. Some birds like the eider duck are known to pull out the feathers and eider down to line their nest.

But loons do not develop a brood patch to incubate the eggs.

Instead they have an area between their legs near the back of their body that is highly enriched with blood vessels. The increased blood flow in this area allows the loon to transfer its body heat to the incubate the eggs and help them develop.

Another thing that makes loons different than most birds are their bones.

Most birds have hollow bones which cuts down on their weight. This is important in allowing the birds to become airborne easier and to fly with less effort.

However, in a loon the bones are almost solid.

This explains why a loon needs such a long 'runway' to take off from the lake - up to a quarter mile of open water.

While it makes it harder for the loon to take off and fly, it makes it easier for them to dive for fish.

Loons have been documented to consistently dive to depths of over 200 feet! And not having hollow bones helps them to do that.

Yet one more of the amazing things about our loons.

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

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