Tuesday, April 7, 2015 11:47 pm CDT

Guest User April 8, 2015

35 degrees F Partly Cloudy Wind 3mph NE

Sunrise 6:43 am CDT Sunset 7:48 pm CDT

THE LOONS ARE BACK!

They arrived this afternoon.

About 1:30 this afternoon, while I was putting some finishing touches on the loon nest, I heard the distinctive and beautiful call of a loon from out on the lake. It is the first call I have heard this year.

And sure enough.

There was a single loon swimming straight out from where the nest is normally anchored.

I have to admit it put a smile on my face.

Within about 15 minutes, I heard more calls from the lake. And when I looked, there was a pair of loons swimming together.

Obviously the loons had just come back.

I assume it is "our loons" although I cannot say for sure until we are able to get a look at their bands.

As you know the male was banded 3 years ago and the 'new' female was banded last summer.

But there is no reason that just a random pair of loons would land and swim in the very area they have nested before.

Then just as it was getting dark, the pair swam in very close to shore and close to where I was working on the nest equipment. That confirmed to me that it probably was "our pair", even though I still have not seen the bands. But there is NO other explanation why a pair would come in that close to check things out.

The nest is in the water.

There just are numerous small adjustments and things that must be done even after it is in the water.

I am hoping that we will be able to "go live" with the LoonCam in the next couple days.

Tell mom and dad and the kids and grandma and grandpa and the neighbors to start watching.

I was just outside. And the loons are calling out on the lake. Announcing that they have returned.

It doesn't get any better than this.

What adventures and drama and twists will this year bring?

Another season begins!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015 11:29 pm CDT

Guest User March 31, 2015

52 degrees Clear Calm

Sunrise 6:56 am CDT Sunset 7:39 pm CDT

We are getting close!

I have been gone for the last couple weeks. I spent it in Tahiti! I know! I know! It is tough but someone has to do it.

When I got home, it felt really cold.

And it was.

The lake was still completely frozen. Now a couple days later, the ice is black and I think that it will go out tomorrow.

A lot of it has been melting in place.

We had high winds on Sunday and it pushed up on one of the other shores and formed large heaps of ice. But the ice sheet was still too solid to break apart.

But now with temperatures in the 60s yesterday and today, it is getting ready to go.

Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s with rain and possibly thunderstorms. That means it is almost guaranteed to go out tomorrow.

All day today there have been thousands upon thousands of seagulls on the lake. I would actually guess 10,000. But let's stick with thousands.

The sound they make is almost deafening.

There was a bright blue sky with puffy white clouds. A blue lake more than half covered by black ice. And white tornadoes of seagulls as they land on the edges of the ice and then take off and spiral up and around. Only to land on the ice once again. Squawking the whole time.

I looked and looked but I could not spot our loons.

Either they are not back yet or they are effectively hiding. But if they are not here, it will not be long until they are back.

The nest is almost ready to go into the water.

But it cannot go until all the ice is gone.

If I put it in before all the ice is gone, if the ice is driven this way by the wind, the ice will destroy the nest.

We also have to work out all the technical stuff to bring the picture to you. That work is already underway. So you will just have to be patient a little bit longer!

This is over 3 weeks earlier than last year and almost a month earlier than 2013 for ice out.

No doubt the loons are on the way and working their way north as ice goes out of lakes.

Since we banded the new female last year, it will be very interesting to see if both the same male and female come back to the nest this year.

Also, if you have not had a chance to check out the USGS's website to track the juvenile loons banded last summer, you will find that very interesting.

Conventional wisdom says that the juveniles will stay down on the Gulf of Mexico for 2 to 3 years before they come back to Minnesota. But so very little is known of their true behavior. So it will be very instructive to watch them to see what happens.

USGS Juvenile Banded Loons

http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/migrations.html

It gets very interesting now so stay tuned!

Thursday, March 5, 2015 6:57 am CST

Guest User March 5, 2015

-21 degrees Clear Wind Calm.

Sunrise 6:44 am CST Sunset 6:05 pm CST.

There is something wrong with this picture..

It is a beautiful, sunny, "spring" morning.

But it is 21 degrees below zero!.

That just is not right for this time of year.

Even though March can be our snowiest month, usually we do not have the extreme cold that we are seeing this year..

There is an old saying among Minnesotans. We like to call it "The Theater of Seasons". And this year has been no exception.

In fact this year has been the perfect example of that in one of the more exciting 'productions' of recent memory.. In November we had a huge snowstorm here that dumped 16 to 18 inches of snow. Then December and January were relatively low snow months with no bitterly cold weather.. Then came February! And we have had a lot of very cold weather..

Hopefully this is our last blast of the brutal cold.

This year has been an unusually cold and snowy winter all across the country, especially in the Northeast!. The cold and snow that has reached all the way down into the Deep South has hopefully kept our loons safely in place on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean..

If you have been following the juvenile loons on the USGS page, you have seen they are still on the Gulf of Mexico, clustered especially along the South Florida coast.

USGS Juvenile Loon Tracking Website

http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/migrations.html .

It will be so very interesting to watch these juvenile loons to see how they behave when the spring migration begins.

Conventional wisdom has told us that juveniles will stay down on the Gulf for 2 to 3 years before they make their first trip back north.

But there is SO little that is known of the life of Common Loons during the winter months. So the data from these loons will add immeasurably to our knowledge about them and especially about juvenile loons.

We can be very thankful to Kevin Kenow from the USGS, along with his team of Steve and Luke and Bob, for their work in making it possible for us to be a part of this interesting research.

Unfortunately it appears that already 4 of the loons have died. One of them was apparently shot! He was somewhere along the Mississippi River between Arkansas and Tennessee last November.

By now, the adults should be already changing back into their black and white plumage that we are so familiar with and that we know and love. They have been a drab, non-descript brownish gray all winter. But soon will once again be the typical beautiful black and white.

With the approach of the spring migration, they are changing back into their 'tuxedos' and they are also regaining their voices to express their excitement about coming back home. But with all the lakes here in Minnesota still solidly covered with thick ice, they must just wait for a while yet

The weather forecast for this weekend says that we may reach 50 degrees here at the loon's lake

That is a swing of 70 degrees in just a few days!. And it means that things will start to change rapidly

Right now, the loon's nesting platform is buried under a big snow drift of snow that has blown off the lake. All that is visible is the 'post' that sticks up from the corner of the raft where the camera gets mounted. It looks like a periscope from a submarine that is looking to see what the world and weather are like "up there".

For sure we are weeks away, if not a month or more, from being able to do anything with the nest. Let alone being able to put it in a lake that will finally be ice free

But now is the time for you to prepare for another season with our loons. It will be here before we know it.

Tell your family and your friends to get ready. Encourage your children's or granchildren's teachers to consider using the LoonCam as a wonderful teaching tool for their students. The myriad of stories from teachers of how they have used the LoonCam to not only teach but to motivate students has been humbling.

It makes all the hard work worthwhile.. So here is to another successful nesting season ... for ALL our loons!.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014 Christmas Eve 11:11 am CST

Guest User December 24, 2014

33 degrees F Cloudy CalmSunrise 7:51 am CST Sunset 4:34 pm CST First of all and most important, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you! And for those of you who may not celebrate Christmas, Happy Hanukkah to you or just best wishes. Here in the "Great White North", it is anything but white. While we had a BIG snowstorm here back in November, most of that snow has now melted and it looks like we might have a 'brown Christmas' here. That is something that we Minnesotans are not used to and do not like. To us, Christmas just should be 'white'! For the last week we have had unusually mild weather for this time of year. And most of the snow from the November storm has melted. Now all that is left are the snow drifts and along the roads where the snow plows have built up rows of snow. The lake is still frozen in spite of the mild weather. We had enough cold weather in November that there is not much danger of the lake opening up. There are a few fish houses out in the middle of the lake and many more to come when the temperatures drop, as they inevitably will. And hopefully all of our loons are now safely ensconced on the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Coast. I would encourage you to check out the USGS website to track the juvenile loons that Kevin and Steve and Luke implanted with satellite transmitters back in August. You can see exactly where they have been and where they are now. It is fascinating to watch their movements. And Bob has done such a great job of updating the map. You can find the map to track the juvenile loons at:http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/migrations.html

This is the first time that we will be able to follow the movements of juvenile loons! So little is known about loon behavior during the winter. But even less is known about juvenile loons. So being able to follow their movements promises to add immeasurably to the body of knowledge of what we know about loons. No doubt you will remember that it is commonly believed that when the juvenile loons migrate south [and amazingly they find the way down south on their own!], it is believed that they will spend the first 2 or 3 years of their life on the Gulf of Mexico before they once again come back to their homes on the lakes of northern forests. Now we will be able to watch and learn. Last summer there was a pair of juvenile loons on the lake here. So obviously this pair came back "before they were supposed to". It is very interesting to me to see that 2 of the juvenile loons are hanging out way over along the Texas Coast, even as far south as Mexico. That is further west than most of the loons go. Why did they decide to go over there? Surprisingly they were both hatched on the same lake! What made them go further west than all the other loons? Is there some connection that it is those two loons and not the others? Are there more loons than what we thought that spend time over in that area? So many questions and so few answers. Enjoy watching and learning with all the rest of us. As most of you know, loons cannot stay here when the lakes freeze over. They need up to a quarter mile of open water to take off. If they do not have open water, they are trapped. They will die unless someone rescues them. We had a situation like that a few weeks ago. A juvenile loon did not take off. The ice started forming on his lake. Inexorably the ice grew and grew. And the area of open water where he could swim grew smaller and smaller. Day by day it was becoming more desperate for him. If he did not fly away, he would not survive. And now the small area of open water had become too small for him to take off, even if he tried. Things had gotten desperate. Fortunately a family was watching his plight. They contacted authorities and got permission to attempt a rescue. Even the rescue was dangerous because of the possibility that they might fall through the ice. But rescue him they did! And they brought him to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for treatment. You can read some of the story here:. Loon rescued from icy lake http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/content/loon-rescued-icy-lake

Enjoy reading the heartwarming story.

On this, one of the shortest days of the year, we look forward to the days now beginning to lengthen. And then before we know it, the ice will start to melt and once again our beloved loons will grace us with their presence. And their beauty and their haunting calls. But for now, we enjoy this special time of year with the warmth of family and friends. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours! Questions or comments? LoonCam at yahoo dot com Copyright 2014 Larry R Backlund

Sunday, November 16, 2014 9:21pm CST

Guest User November 16, 2014

5 degrees F Clear CalmSunrise 7:13 am CST Sunset 4:42 pm CST

The Silent Season has arrived and settled in. The lake froze over yesterday morning. So now the huge flocks of seagulls with their raucous calls are gone. The several dozen swans with their musical calls are gone. The large flocks of Canada geese with their honking are gone. And of course, our beloved loons are now gone for sure if they had not left before.

Silence is here.

Last Monday we received 12-16 inches of snow! The blanket of snow silences things even more. What had been the colors of fall and the blue of the lake is now all white. Snow in pine trees paint the prettiest Christmas card. And the birds are active at the snow covered feeders.

This morning there were deer tracks in the snow within just a few feet of the house. Obviously the deer had made their way through during the night. It always surprises me that they often come that close to the house.

I was out in the western part of the state and Up North from Tuesday to Friday. ["Up North" is something that is typically Minnesotan. We always talk about going "Up North". In New York it is going 'up state'and other areas may have different expressions. But here in Minnesota it is going "Up North".]

Some of the small ponds had frozen out west and Up North but most of the lakes were still open. Including our 'loon lake' which was still open. But we got our first subzero reading on Friday night - minus 3 degrees. And the lake that had been almost totally open, except for a band of ice out from shore about 100 feet, was completely frozen over on Saturday morning.

Swans and geese and seagulls that had been there Friday night were gone in the morning.

I mentioned the USGS website to you where you can track the 17 juvenile loons that Kevin Kenow and his crew had implanted with satellite transmitters. http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/migrations.html

You may want to check it out. I think you will find it very interesting. And your children's and grandchildren's teachers have a tremendous opportunity to use it as a great teaching tool.

Some of the loons are already down on the Gulf of Mexico. But surprisingly 6 were still on their northern lakes and 4 are 'enroute' when the site was last updated on Friday.

I would guess that will change dramatically the next time the locations are updated. Since most of the lakes are probably now frozen over, those juveniles will be on the move. At least hopefully they have left those lakes before they froze over. Otherwise they are doomed.

There are numerous cases of loons freezing into a lake and perishing. Whether it was because they could not fly or that they had other difficulties. But it is important that the loons are in the air before the lake freezes.

It will be very interesting to see how they move and where they go. Whereas the adults that we tracked last year all went directly over to Lake Michigan, most of the juveniles that have been migrating so far seem to be taking a more direct route to the Gulf. Once again, we have so much to learn.

Stay tuned and we will learn together.

Minnesota Bound

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