Monday, June 4, 2012 7:47am CDT

 
With some of the twitches and jumps of the adult loon in the last few minutes, could it mean that we are getting close to the hatch of the second egg?
The chick is not under the adult right now so he is not causing those twitches and jumps.
 
We can only wait and watch and hope!

Monday, June 4, 2012 5:28am CDT

 
 
55 degrees F     Cloudy     Calm
Sunrise  5:26am     Sunset  8:56pm 
 
 
Our little loon chick has already had a full and eventful life even though he is still less than a day old.
 
He has just peeked out from under the loon to look at his first early morning dawn.
 
He has already been for a swim last night.  He has heard the frantic calls from his parents who were concerned that a pontoon had gotten too close for their comfort.  He learned how to get back up on the safety of the nest to spend the night under a sheltering wing.
 
For being less than a day old, he has already had a full life.
 
Now we wait for the second egg to hatch.
 
Or has it already hatched?
 
It is impossible to tell until the loon gives us a look of what it is hiding underneath its body.
 
It is impossible to tell the difference between the twitches of a little loon moving under the loon from those of a second little loon trying to make its way out of the egg.
 
So we have to just wait to see if we have a second chick yet.
 
If the second egg has not hatched, I would expect that it will probably hatch today.
 
Then we should prepare for something that is difficult to watch.  That is the fight between the two chicks.  It seems to almost always happen.  There is only one year on this nest that I did not see it happen.  It is a fight for dominance and what we blithely call 'the pecking order'.
 
But I will warn you that it is difficult to watch.
 
You will think that they are actually going to kill each other they go at it so hard.  But I have yet to see them do any real damage.  And once the fight is over, it seems to be over.  And the chicks seem perfectly content with each other and get along just fine.
 
It is interesting that we had a fresh yellow iris for the arrival of the chick yesterday morning.  And now this morning there is a new yellow iris that has bloomed hopefully for a new chick today.
 
The first chick was born sometime between 6:09am and 9:25am yesterday morning and probably between 8am and 9:25am.  It is difficult to tell the exact hatching time because we cannot actually see under the loon. The eggs were both definitely still intact shortly after 6am.  Then the cam feed went down for a while from 8 to 9.
 
By 9:25am there was a definite view of a new little chick.  Here is one picture captured by faithful viewer Pegaloon.
 
As you can see from the picture, the new little loon chick is laying next to the left wing of the parent, totally exhausted.
  
It doesn't even look like the chick has dried out yet.  This picture was taken at 9:29am CDT.  And the fact that the chick is not even dry yet leads me to believe that the actual hatch was at or after 9am.  The chick is probably only minutes old at the time of this picture.
 
So today as we watch for the second chick, it will be difficult to determine exactly at what point it hatches.  Other than if the loon decides to give us a look.  With the first chick under there, movements and twitches of the loon are not a reliable indicator now of hatching.
 
So today we enjoy the view of our little loon chick.  A view that is ever so brief before it goes in the water for good.
 
Today promises to be a good day with highs around 80 degrees.  With only slight chance of thunderstorms later on today.
 
And we wait patiently and with breath held until we see the second little chick free of its now confining eggshell.
 
The wonder and the miracle continues!
 
 
Comments or Questions?   LoonCam(at)yahoo(dot)com
Because of the amount of email, I am not able to answer each one individually.  But I do try to read each one.  And I will try to answer questions from emails here on the blog.
 
Copyright  2012     Larry Backlund

Sunday, June 3, 2012 8:59pm CDT

 

The sun has just set.

The western sky is painted with oranges and golds.

The blazing colors are reflected in the absolutely calm waters of a northern Minnesota lake.

No artist could do justice to the scene.

And an artist could never do justice to the justice to the picture of a loon on a nest with a beautiful downy black ball of fuzz that is a newly hatched loon chick.

So the sun sets on our little loonling.  Let us hope and pray that he has a quiet and peaceful night and stays on the nest until at least tomorrow morning.  The lake is big and dark and scary to a little loon chick.

He has already gone for a swim!

I watched holding my breath as time and time again he struggled to get back up on the nest where his dad was.  He almost did it several times but not quite.  He called and called.  And dad called and called.

He didn't know where the 'chick ramp' was that was put there just for him.  Just for a time such as this.

Somewhere out in the lake, mom heard and came back.

Dad got back in the water, too.

And our little loon was soon up on one of the parent's back, safe and sound.

But the drama was not over yet.  The reason the loon had left the nest again was that a pontoon boat had stopped much too close to the nest.  He was just outside the buoys but he was still too close for a pair of loons with a brand new chick.  

And they made their displeasure known with their calls.

I finally got his attention and motioned for him to move away.  He graciously immediately did just that.

I am still not totally sure how the got back up on the nest.  One of the adults got back up on the nest and the second egg almost as soon as the pontoon had left.

My heart sank when I looked for the chick.  I expected it to be with the other loon which had now moved out beyond the buoy.  But I did not see a chick swimming alongside the adult.  I tried to convince myself that there was a bulge under the wing.  If there was a bulge, it was awfully small.

My concern grew about where the chick was.

Then when I looked back to the nest, I saw a distinct form on the loon's back.  So I came back to the LoonCam and was so relieved when I saw that the chick was under the wing!

How he got there, I am not sure.  He must have been under the wing when the loon jumped back up on the nest.  That is unusual because I have seen numerous times when the chick is on the back of the loon and the loon jumps up on the nest, the chick goes unceremoniously flying back into the water.

However he got there, the important thing is that he is safely sheltered under the wing of the adult loon on the nest.

Let us hope and pray for a quiet and uneventful night.  And a SAFE night.

This chick has already had too many adventures in his short life!

 

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

Copyright  2012    Larry Backlund

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