Sunday, June 3, 2012 6:09am CDT

 

48 degrees CDT     Sunny     Calm

 

Interesting goings on  with the loons.

Not only has there been movements by the loon on the nest like there was something happening in the eggs underneath it.

There has been a third loon in the area which caused the loon on the nest to go into deep hangover as the mate swam out to confront it.  Then things calmed down for a bit.

But at 5:56am the loon on the nest left in a shot from the back side of the nest.  This sudden exit was followed by yodels and splashing.

Here is what happened.

There is a loon that had come very close to the nest and the loon on the nest, obviously the male because of his yodels, thought it was very urgent that he chase that loon away.  So both loons went on a flapping/rowing chase away from the nest.

At 6:09am, right now, the loon has just gotten back up on the nest, rolled the eggs and settled down.

While he was off the nest, I looked carefully at the exposed eggs to see if I could see a pip.  I could not.

But I keep hearing a small bird sound that sounds very much like a loon chick.  Is it my imagination?  Or are we actually hearing one of the chicks in the egg?  Once again it is so hard to keep 'hopes' from running away with reality.  But the sound is not the typical sound of some of the other morning bird songs.

There was even a purple martin that landed on the nest while the loon was gone and also a redwing blackbird.  The redwing blackbird went into full display of his red epaulets as he chased the martin off the nest - he acted as if he was the owner of this nest with these big eggs!

So what have we got?  No obvious visible pip.  But movements this morning by the loon on the nest consistent with either pipping or movements in the egg.   And sounds like a loon chick that could also be another bird's calls.  But maybe not.

So many questions with no clear cut answers.

Only time will tell what we are really seeing and hearing and what is happening.

So on a beautiful Minnesota Day, we watch and wait.

Wait for the miracles of life.

 

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

Copyright  2012     Larry Backlund


Sunday, June 3, 2012 4:43am CDT

 
49 degrees F     Clear     Calm
Sunrise  5:27am     Sunset  8:55pm
 
 
The very first glimmers of daylight appear in the eastern sky.
 
For the last hour or more, our loon on the nest has gone through 'suspicious' movements.
 
The lifting of a wing here.  A twitch there.  A slight rise.  A look back.
 
All of it COULD be consistent with a chick trying to make its way out of an egg and the loon feeling that movement underneath our loon.
 
Or it could be consistent with wishful thinking.
 
Take your choice. 
 
Whatever is happening, it bears close watching.
 
Could we be at hatch time?
 
Do we dare believe?
 
 
 
Comments or Questions?     LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com
Copyright  2012     Larry Backlund
 
 
 

Sunday, June 3, 2012 12:07am CDT

 

54 degrees    Clear     Calm

 

Sometimes I find my 'wishes' coloring my observations.

And of that I try to be careful.  But it is hard to keep the two separate.

I with many of you have observed what appear to be small twitches and movements that seem to signal that something that is happening under the loon or in the eggs.

That may be the case.  Or it may not be.  The proof isn't here yet.

When the loon has been off the egg, I look very carefully at the eggs to see if I can see a hole or a pip.  Sometimes I think I can see something.  And other times I am convinced it is just a shadow.

Does all of that feel and sound familiar?

We want something so bad that sometimes we have to ask ourselves if we are simply imagining what we want to be realilty.

I find it very encouraging to see what seem to be those "small movements".  They MAY indicate that we really have chicks inside the eggs.

Hope springs eternal.

But the only way we will know for sure is to watch carefully.

The tension and excitement builds.

And sometimes the land of wishes crosses over and intrudes into the land of reality.

 

Saturday, June 2, 2012 5:35am CDT

 
45 degrees F    Clear     Calm
Sunrise  5:27     Sunset  8:55pm 
 
 
The yellow iris on the plant that was so unceremoniously uprooted by the loons has now fully opened.  There are two more blooming on the irises on the far edge.
 
All we need are for a couple loon eggs to 'fully open'.
 
What could complete the picture more perfectly than for us to see two healthy little black downy loon chicks?
 
What could be a better reward to two loons who have so faithfully sat for hour after hour on the eggs?  Day after day.  In all kinds of weather.
 
The weather today would be perfect weather for the arrival of the loon chicks.
 
The lake is like a sheet of glass this morning.  The loon on the nest is not being rocked by waves at all.  And the mate swims out in the middle of the lake.  Two early morning fishermen are putting their boat in the water.  Tiny wisps of fog rise off the surface of the lake in the cool morning air and float away.
 
But what is happening inside the eggs remains a mystery to us.  Known only to the chicks in the egg and maybe the loons themselves.
 
For the rest of us, we cannot hurry it.  We cannot speed things up no matter how much we try.  It will happen when it happens.
 
But the chances of it happening go up dramatically today and for the next few days.  I would expect that if the eggs are going to hatch they will do it in the next two or three days.  Every hope of the last couple months now reaching its culmination.  Everything has pointed to this time.
 
So we wait.  Some more patiently than others.  But everyone waits.
 
Once the hatching happens, everything goes into high gear.
 
The focus of the loons changes.
 
No longer are they content to sit hour after hour, day after day.  In hot sun, in rain and in cold hail.  Then everything the loon does will change to protecting and feeding that chick.  And the feeding is a non-stop proposition as the parents dive over and over and come back with the tiniest of minnows to feed the chicks.
 
The chicks will be almost totally dependent on the adults for their food for the first six weeks of their lives.  Then gradually they will begin to catch a little of their own food until they are able to catch all of their food by the time they are about 3 months old.
 
But we get ahead of the story.  Nothing else happens until the eggs hatch.
 
So 'hatch watch' is on.
 
Yesterday I received sad news from Carol Jansky at St John's University.  Many of you have followed reports of one of the loons that we implanted with a satellite transmitter in the summer of 2010.
 
Carol gives us the following report:
"Big John and his mate lost their chicks sometime in the last week.  Br. Walter Kieffer and I surmise that either the eagles took the chicks or perhaps they were injured or killed by the golf-ball sized hail we had on Memorial Day. 

Better news , the loons on Stumpf lake survived the hailstorm and their chicks have hatched."

It is once again a stark reminder of the challenges that loons face even when they successfully hatch their eggs.  So we are sad at the apparent loss of two chicks.  But encouraged of the report of two other chicks.

New life is beginning all across the area.

We can only imagine what is happening inside the eggs that 'our loons' are so faithfully protecting.

Today the watch continues.

And hope springs eternal.

 

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

Because of the number of emails I am not able to respond to each one personally.  However, I will eventually read all of them.  And when there are several questions along the same line I will try to answer those questions here.

Copyright  2012    Larry Backlund