11:09pm Tuesday, July 23, 2013

  57 degrees F     Clear     Calm     FULL Moon 

I spent the afternoon on the water with Kevin Kenow, Steve and Luke from the USGS, attempting to catch loons and retrieve the data recorders that we had placed on the loons last year.

Without the loons having chicks this year, it makes it very hard to capture them since they are not being protective of their chicks.

Kevin was hoping that the loons would still be territorial enough that it would give us a chance to catch them.

They showed some territorial behavior but they would not get close enough to us to be able to capture them.

So we will have to wait until next year to retrieve the data recorders to download the data and see where they have been.

There is something that I hinted at sometime back that we may have been able to confirm today.  But that will have to wait until I have more time to give you the complete details.

But for now, suffice it to say that all of the loons seem to be healthy and active.  Healthy and active enough that we could not catch them.

Copyright 2013     Larry R Backlund

10:16am CDT Tuesday, July 23, 2013

67 degrees F     Sunny     Wind  7mph NNE  Sunrise   5:47am CDT     Sunset   8:50pm  CDT

It is a beautiful, sunny day here in Minnesota.

Cool.  Clear.  No humidity.  Even a little bit on the chilly side yet this morning.

It is nice after the heat and humidity that we had last week.

The wind is picking up a little bit so there are waves on the lake.  Even a few small whitecaps but nothing major.

These are the beautiful days of summer that linger in our memories in the depths of winter.  We savor them while we can.

I do not see the loons right now but they are still around.

We still have the 5 loons that we had earlier this spring - two pairs and a single loon.

But then a few weeks ago we had even more visitors!  One of the neighbors called me and said that he had seen what he thought were two immature loons still in their gray plumage.  He asked if that was possible and what might be happening.

I knew that he knew loons well enough to correctly identify them but we went through every possibility of it being other birds.  But it sure sounded like immature loons.  So he asked me if I would go out to identify them if he saw them again.

Early the next morning, he called and said he was out on the lake and he saw the immature pair of loons.  So he came to get me and out we went to see if we could identify them.  Wouldn't you know it?  When we got out onto the lake we could not find them!  He said, "I know I saw them!"

We looked and looked but could not find them.

Suddenly, there was one of them!

And a couple minutes later the second one showed up.  It WAS two immature loons.  It is hard to tell age but I guessed that they were maybe two year old chicks that had for some reason come back early.  Kevin Kenow from the USGS said that they have seen a few cases of young loons coming back early and they usually come back to the lake they were hatched on or a lake in the area.  One of the people from the Minnesota DNR guessed that they might be three year old loons who had not yet gotten their first adult plumage.

But as usual, there were more questions than answers of who they are and where they came from.  They definitely were much to big for it to be any chicks from this year on the lake or on any other surrounding lakes.  Any of this years chicks would not be in full feather yet, let alone would they be able to fly.

Is it possible that they are chicks from the loon cam two or three years ago?

We know they both be chicks that hatched on the lake here last year because we lost the chick from the LoonCam and one of the other two chicks that hatched on the lake was found on Lake Phalen in St Paul last September all tangled up in fishing line.  In spite of heroic efforts by the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, even including surgery, he was too badly injured to survive his injuries.

So out of the three chicks hatched on the lake last year, only one survived.

So these two immature loons cannot both be from the lake here last year.

When we finally were able to spot these two immature loons, my friend said, "I am so glad you saw them, too.  Or people would think I was out here drinking while I was fishing!"

Kevin Kenow and his crew are going to come out here today to see if there is any possibility that we can capture the loons that be banded last year.

We so much want to recapture them to be able to download the data off the geolocater tags that were attached to their legs.

Those geolocater have been recording data for the last year.  It has recorded the location of the loons every day.  It will show exactly where they have gone and when.  So it will add so much to our knowledge of loons and their migration and especially what happens to them during the winter down on the Gulf of Mexico.

But we have to catch them to retrieve the data recorders.

Without the loons here on this lake having chicks, that makes it VERY difficult to capture them.  To capture a loon, you rely on their natural instinct to protect their chicks.  This make it easier to get close to them and capture them.  But without chicks, some of that defensiveness is not that and it is much more difficult, or even impossible, to capture them.

But Kevin and his crew want to retrieve that data almost as much as you and I want them to.

So we will see what they think when they get here later today.

I apologize to you that it has been so long since I have last updated you.  I have been gone a lot this summer.  But I will try to let you know what happens today and what the decision is about capture.

This is the first time I will have updated the blog since they made all the changes to the website.  I now no longer post my blog directly but send someplace and then it gets posted 'automatically'.  So hopefully this works and the blog is there for you to read.

Copyright 2013     Larry R Backlund

Friday, June 14, 2013 9:34pm CDT

72 degrees F     Partly Cloudy     Wind  2mph N

Sunrise  5:24am CDT     Sunset  9:02pm CDT

The yellow irises are in full bloom on the LoonCam nest.

Unfortunately, that is the only thing that is blooming on the nest.

There are no loons.  There are no eggs.  There are no little chicks 'blooming'.

This truly has been one unusual year in every respect.

From the historically late ice-out date.  To the failure of the loons to nest this year, even while other loons in the area nested almost immediately after their return.

There were still at least 5 loons on the lake here as of last weekend.

One neighbor witnessed a territorial confrontation between two pair of loons, one of which was apparently the pair that has been hanging around this side of the lake and the nest.  In addition, they also saw a single loon on another side of the lake.

But it does not seem to be just our LoonCam loons that have not nested.

The other pair of loons that nested on the lake last year has not nested either.  At least not in the same area where they nested last year.  A couple people have told me that they have not seen any nesting loons on that part of the lake.  A week ago I took the canoe and went looking to see if I could find a nest.

I could not find a nest or any indication that they were nesting in that area of the lake where they had been last year and successfully hatched two chicks.  They were the two chicks that we banded last year, one of whom was found on Lake Phalen in St Paul in September, entangled in fishing line.  Unfortunately, in spite of valiant efforts by the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center the loon succumbed to his injuries.

This may be the pair of loons that my neighbors saw in a territorial confrontation on another part of the lake.

Whatever the truth may be, where last year two pair of loons were nesting on the lake and had chicks by now, this year neither pair of loons appear to be nesting.  Who know what the reasons are.

I had one report by someone else that they saw a loon on a nest on the other side of the lake [probably one of the two pair that were in the territorial battle].  So a couple days ago I went looking for the nest where they said they saw the loon.  It may be there somewhere.  But I did not find it.  And I did see a pair of loons swimming out from that area as they preened and fished.

It is something that I will investigate again to see if there is indeed a pair of loons nesting there.  But I could not find them a few days ago.  If I find something, I will update you on what I find.

The loon pair that has been staying around this side of the lake has periodically come up to the nesting platform.  But they have not been up on the nest since Monday morning.  And each time it is only the male that has gotten up there.  The female seems to be much more wary and she seldom comes to the nest.

The nest is still in the water and available to them if they want to use it.  I gradually moved it over a period of many days so that they would always see where it was and so that there were no drastic changes.

But so far they have shown no indication that they are going to lay eggs this year.

If they do not, it will be the first time in 10 years that the loons have not used the LoonCam nest.

One of the other ramifications of the loons not nesting is that we will probably not be able to catch them and retrieve that geolocater recorder tags that we placed on all 4 of the adult loons.  Those recorders have documented everywhere the loons have been for the last year.

But in order to retrieve the data, we have to be able to catch the loons.  And in order to be able to catch the loons, they need to have chicks that they are protecting.

So it is a disappointment that we may also have to wait to learn where our two pair of loons spent the winter and what the route of their migration was.

So many unusual circumstances.  So many questions.  So few answers ... yet.

All we can do is to continue to watch and learn.

For now you can be assured that the loons seem to be very healthy and doing well.  They are still around.  They are fishing and preening and swimming and diving.

They just are not laying eggs.

Copyright 2013     Larry R Backlund

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 9:30pm CDT

53 degrees CDT     Cloudy     WInd  12mph NE

Sunrise  5:26am CDT     Sunset  8:57pm CDT

I haven't given you much news because there has not been much news to give.  Unfortunately.

The loons still are not using the nest.

They have visited it a few times but they have not nested.  99% of the time the are away from the nest.  Many times nowhere to be seen.  They do show some interest in the nest.  But not a lot so far.

Because of that, I still have not gotten the nest to where I was thinking about bringing it.

I have gradually pulled it in from its original spot thinking that I could gradually get them used to it being in a different place.  But it is taking much longer than I had anticipated.  It is possible that the movement of the nest is slowing their behavior - but truthfully I have seen no behaviors that would sugget that was the case.  It seems that they are just either very slow in nesting this year or they are not going to nest at all.

This has been one very strange year.

There was an interesting incident this afternoon.

Both loons were near the nest.  Not on it.  Just near it.

A family of Canada geese came swimming by with 7 goslings.  One of the loons dove and went after them.  I don't know that he tried to stab them but he came up right next to them.  One of the adult geese, I assume the male jumped and started honking and flapping his wings and the rest of the family panicked and tried to get away.

But then surprisingly, the goose took off after the loon as the loon beat a hasty retreat.

Tthe goose quickly swam/flew back to his family and the loon chased him partway.

Tthe loon did the penguin dance 6 or 7 times very excitedly.  As if to say "I'm the king!"  He did not make any calls.  But he was definitely showing that he meant business.

Shortly after this the loons swam back out in the lake.

But there has not been much other activity on or around the nest

So as of now, there is no news of any nesting.  Or eggs.  Or chicks.

The clock keeps ticking.

Copyright 2013     Larry R Backlund

Saturday, June 1, 2013 6:53am CDT

 

56 degrees F     Partly Cloudy     Wind Calm

 

Sunrise  5:28am CDT     Sunset  8:24pm CDT

 

 

It is a beautiful, calm early Minnesota morning.

 

The loon nest has been pulled in part way from where it was anchored and toward a more out of the way spot.

 

The loons are still not using it or nesting.  So the decision to shut down the cam for the year seems to be the right one - actually, under the circumstances, the only decision that could be made.

 

Will they use it this year?

 

Hope always springs eternal.

 

But with every passing day, it looks less and less hopeful that there can be a successful nesting on the platform.  I do not see any indication yet that the loons have built a 'natural nest' anywhere else.

 

But time is slipping by.

 

The loons are around.  They generally stay on this side of the lake but meander back and forth.

 

I may have some news about the pair of loons but nothing that I feel sure enough yet to talk about.  Sorry, I don't mean to tease  you but I want to be sure before I say any more.  As soon as I know more and can say it more definitively, I will share it with you.

 

But in the meantime, all we can do is wait and see what else nature has in store for us.  Does nature have more surprises in store for us or is this the end of the nesting saga for this pair this year?

 

Only time will tell.

 

And time can take so long sometimes!

 

 

 

Copyright 2013     Larry R Backlund