Monday, May 11, 2015 5:56am CDT

47 degrees F     Scattered Rain     Wind 3 mpg NE

Sunrise   5:48 am CDT     Sunset   8:32 pm CDT

We have just had our morning nest exchange.

The female loon has come in and taken over nesting duties and the male has left.

He has been on the nest since 12:42 pm yesterday - a total of 17 HOURS 11  minutes!

That has to be some kind of a record.  Although it has undoubtedly happened somewhere, sometime before, that is the longest I have ever seen a loon stay on the nest at one stretch.

This pair is getting their nest exchanges down to a routine better and better and is doing them more smoothly.

It takes the female a few tries to get the eggs placed just right.  She adjusts them with her beak and  eventually she gets them in just the right spot and settles down on the eggs to keep them warm in the chilly spring morning air.  Rain continues off and on.

A light breeze blows across the nest and our loon.

Loons roll the eggs to get them in just the right spot near the back of their bodies between their legs.

Most birds have what is called a "brood patch".

A brood patch is an area on the birds breast that either does not have any feathers, or has few feathers.  This allows the bird to put that area of bare skin up against the eggs so that it can transfer body warmth to the eggs more efficiently.

Loons do not have this bare skin "brood patch".

Instead they have an area back toward their legs that has a higher than average number of blood vessels.  It is this area where the loon tries to position the eggs so that they can transfer body warmth to the eggs.

So that is why you see them roll the eggs with their beak, trying to get them positioned just perfectly in that 'magic spot'.

When they have them in the right spot, they will settle down on the egg, wiggle and waddle as they nestle the egg against this spot with all the extra blood vessels.

Then watch them do something else.

Once they have settled their body on the eggs, moved their legs, wiggled their rear end back and forth to get the eggs positioned at just the right spot, they will carefully tuck their wing tips down along the nest.  They will cross the wing tips to seal up the space around the eggs so that no cold air can get to the eggs.

And then as a final step, they will lower their tail down over the wing tips to lock everything in place!

It is almost the loon's version of a Thermos bottle!

The eggs are now securely protected from the cold air as the loon transfers heat from their body to help the little chicks in the eggs develop and grow.

One of so many small miracles that our loons do every day.

So now we watch the clock and the calendar for the next 3 weeks or more.

Waiting for what will hopefully be 2 little  black downy balls to emerge from the eggs.  Our loon chicks.  So full of life!

And so full of "cute"!

Copyright 2015 Larry R Backlund

Mother's Day Sunday, May 10, 2015 6:14 pm CDT

50 degrees     Rain     Wind 8 mph NE

Sunrise   5:49 am CDT     Sunset   8:30 pm CDT

Today has been a chilly rainy day, with more predicted over the next few days.

The forecast is predicting that we may get an inch or two of rain in the next couple days.  That moisture will be very welcome.  The plants on the nest have already started to perk up from some of the rain that we have already had.  They had been looking pretty bleak.

But we will take this rain compared to the heavy snow in the Black Hills and Denver, the tornadoes in Texas or the tropical storms in the Carolinas.  (Although the forecasters have said that we should not be surprised to maybe see 'a flake or two of snow' by Tuesday morning!)

The average date of the last frost in the Twin Cities is today, May 10th.  Here at "Loon Lake", it is closer to May 20th.  So it is still possible to get frost and too early to put out tender plants.  In fact my father used to talk about he remembered seeing snow flurries on the Fourth of July one year!

If we had temperatures in the 50s back in January, we Minnesotans would be out sitting in our lawn chairs wearing shorts.  Now we are bundled up like Floridians!  Compared to the sun and warmth of a few days ago, it feels cold.  Just another act in the Theater of Seasons.

But the loons are more comfortable in this kind of weather than in the heat or  hot sun beating down on them.

This pair of loons really seems to be maturing.

The female has been less likely to bolt off the nest at the slightest thing.  And the nest exchanges have been much more smooth than in the past.  And the loons have been very faithful in incubating those precious eggs.

The conventional wisdom and belief is that it takes 28 days for the eggs to incubate.  Some estimates have even gone as high as 32 days, although I personally believe that is way too long.

Through the miracle of the LoonCam and by being able to know exactly when eggs were laid and to know within a few hours of when the chicks hatch, we have been rewriting the conventional wisdom of what has been believed about loons.  Not only on incubation time but a number of other things as well.

We have consistently seen hatches that have been less than 28 days.

IF I had to make a prediction, I would predict that we will see a hatch of these eggs somewhere the last day or two of May or the first day or two of June.  Even more precise, I would predict hatching on Sunday, May 31 and/or Monday, June 1.  But that is a very long and tenuous limb I am on out on with that prediction.

Once again we can only watch and wait.

We are not in control.

Something or some One much bigger than us are in control.

Enjoy the drama of watching and waiting for our little chicks.  And all the drama and twists and turns that inevitably will come in the meantime.

Copyright 2015     Larry R Backlund

Saturday, May 9, 2015 4:26 pm CDT

69 degrees     Clear and Sunny     Wind 8 mph NE

Sunrise   5:51 am CDT     Sunset   8:29 pm CDT

It is a beautiful day here for the Fishing Opener.

Warm sun.  Blue skies. And just enough wind to create a 'walleye chop'.

Fortunately for our loons today, it is pretty quiet on the lake.  I counted only about  a dozen boats a little while ago.  Many fishermen tend to go further north or to bigger lakes on the Opener.

Like I mentioned, the Governor's fishing party went to Lake Vermilion this year.  Lake Vermilion is not very far from the Canadian border.

Lake Mille Lacs is another very heavily used lake, not only on the Opener but all year.  Fishermen have a lot of choices.  10,000 or more!

All of that is good for our loons if there isn't a lot of boat traffic or people wanting to get close to see the loons.

There is an eagle fishing very close by right now though.

And that has concerned the loons.

I watched the eagle circling very close by.  The female on the nest lowered her head several times.  And the male called from out on the lake.

But this time  the eagle was not looking for loons.  It had spotted a fish.

It circled and cirlcled.  It was a mature eagle with the white head and the white tail gleaming in the bright sunshine.

It lowered its legs and talons several times.

Then when the time was just right, it lowered its talons once again and swooped in for the kill.  

He rose up with a fish in his grasp and flew to a nearby tree where he is eating the fish right now.  It looked like it might have been a bullhead.  He can have all of those that he wants to take.That tree where he is eating is not all that far from the nest and where he caught the fish was even closer.

There are two fishermen in a boat that were VERY close to where the eagle swooped down and caught the fish.  I would like to know what they thought or said.  Because they had a front row seat to all the action.

I am very surprised that the female loon did not spook and leave the nest.  She must be getting more mature and comfortable, which is VERY good.

I have watched a couple of nest exchanges today and she is getting much better at them as well.  All of it is hopeful signs that we might have a successful hatch this year.

There is a long way to go yet.  We are only into the first few days.

So a lot remains to be written of the 2015 Book of Loons.

But you will see it LIVE as it happens.

What could be better?!

Copyright  2015      Larry R Backlund

Friday, May 8, 2015 5:36 am CDT

46 degrees F   Cloudy   Wind  10  mph NW

Sunrise   5:53 am CDT     Sunset   8:27 pm CDT

We have our SECOND EGG!

It arrived at 8:18 am CDT yesterday morning.

Thank you for all of you who saw it live and documented the time.  

I was gone most of the day so I missed the actual laying.  But I was aware of it even though I was not able to post.

I had the privilege of spending a good share  of the day at the State Capitol with Speaker of the House Kurt Daudt and spending a good deal of time on the floor of the House of Representatives.  The Speaker's father Keith and I were very good friends in high school.  I guess that dates me, doesn't it?  That the Speaker's FATHER and I are the same age!  But it was a privilege, one that I also had when he was sworn in as Speaker back in January.

I talked about the Minnesota Fishing Opener in my post yesterday morning.  Governor Dayton and Speaker Daudt and Senate Majority Leader Bakk are all up on Lake Vermilion near Ely right now.  This is at the edge of my beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

And hundreds of thousands of other Minnesotans are heading to their favorite lake today.  Many of them want to be out on the lake at midnight when the fishing season opens for the year.

With all those boaters and fishermen out on lakes across Minnesota, that poses some special stress on our beloved loons.  Let us hope that the fishermen here on our "Loon Lake" will maintain a respectful distance from the nest.

I am sorry that I missed the laying of the second egg this morning.  But thank you once again to all of you faithful viewers who did catch it.  And I hope that it is one of those special memories forever stored in your mind.

Now we are able to settle in for the  long wait for our little loon chicks.  There is still a possibility that our female loon may lay a third egg.  But that possibility is quite slim.  The likelihood is that we will have the two eggs we have now.

In the next couple days I will sit down and try to figure out my best guess of when the eggs might hatch so that you have a date to aim for.  It will be just a guess.  But that is better than nothing for you.

But let's hope that everything over the next month is very boring on uneventful.  And that our loons are able to incubate the eggs without interruption.

That they are able to make the nest exchanges between the female and the male smoothly and quickly.

That we have no eagles or other predators from the air.

I have known that we have three eagles that hunt on the lake, including one immature eagle that spends a lot of time in a neighbors tree not very far from the nest.  In fact it was probably this immature eagle that was chasing a mature eagle last week and they flew right in front of my neighbor's windows.  I didn't see it but it apparently and understandably was a big surprise to see them fly right in front of the window.

The next morning I found a very large bullhead in my yard.  It had a number of very distinct puncture marks in it.  In all probability the eagle had dropped it as it was being chased by the other eagle.

A couple days ago someone told me that there a FIVE eagles that hunt and fish on the lake.

Let's hope that we have no raccoons or beavers or mink or muskrats that come up on the nest and disrupt our loons.  Well, we can have visitors just to keep US interested and give us something to talk about as long as they don't disturb the loons.

Let's hope that we have no snow or frost or severe storms.

And that people keep a respectful distance from the nest.

Oh so many things to make us  worry even more, as if we don't worry about our loons enough already.

So have a wonderful "worryfree" day!

Copyright   2015     Larry R Backlund

Thursday, May 7, 2015 5:29 am CDT

64 degrees F    Cloudy     Wind  3 mph NE

Sunrise   5:54 am CDT     Sunset   8:26 pm CDT

It just started to rain on a very mild spring morning

Our loon sits on the nest protecting the precious egg.

We have needed the rain so badly.  And today thundershowers are predicted off and on for most of the day.

I haven't seen the bands yet but I assume this is still the male on the nest.  If so, he has been here on duty since last night.

We are now two days since the first egg was laid.

I would expect the second egg, if there is to be one, will be laid in the next day or two.  If it goes much beyond a couple days, I would question whether we will have a second egg.  But I have no reason to think that there will not be a second egg.

As I mentioned before, loons usually lay 2 eggs.  But sometimes they only lay 1 egg.  That was the case with the other pair of loons on this lake.   Last year they only laid one egg.  And rarely loons will lay 3 eggs.

 During the first couple days before the eggs have actually started to develop, it is less dangerous for them to be exposed.  However, if it is sunny and hot, the exposed egg can easily overheat.  So unless there are extremes of hot or cold, the egg can withstand being left out in the open.

But loons will normally be on the egg most of the time from when the first egg is laid.

This Saturday is what in Minnesota amounts to a huge 'holiday' - Fishing Opener.

Hundreds of thousands of people will head to one of Minnesota's fabled 10,000 lakes (there are actually 15,000 lakes in Minnesota!) for the first day that the major game fish like walleyes can be legally taken.

It is an annual rite of spring.

So if you or your friends and family are going to be out on our lakes, this is a good time to remind them to watch out for loons.

Loons are easily hit and run over by fast moving boats.

Remind them to be especially careful if they see a loon on a nest.

I tell people that if they remain 300 feet away from a loon on the nest there will  usually be no undue stress on the loon.

If a loon is sitting with its head held high, there probably will not be a problem.  Such a body position indicates that the loon is not unduly concerned or under stress.

However, if the loon goes into "hangover" they are telling you that you are too close to them and they are concerned about you.  Hangover is when a loon will lower its head.  The lower it is, the more concerned they are.

The most extreme is when the loon actually lays its head down on the nest with its neck outstretched.  The loon is signaling that it is very concerned about you being so close.  And if you do not leave the area, the loon may actually leave the nest and leave the eggs exposed to the elements or to predators.

Being repeatedly scared off the nest may even cause the loons to abandon their nest.

So if you are near a loon nest and seen the loon go into 'hangover position', quietly back away and leave the area and the loon will soon relax.

Loons are also sensitive to other animals on shore that they see as predators.  They are very concerned about raccoons and skunks and mink and cats and.  including man's best friend dogs, that they perceive as a threat to them or their eggs.

You will see these behaviors of the loon sitting with its head held high or in hangover position as you watch them here on the LoonCam.

I once watched a canoeist paddle within view of a loon nest.  He was well away from the nest, a distance that normally would not have frightened the loon.  But he had his dog standing in the front of the canoe.

That was enough to scare the loon off the nest and the loon would not return as long as they were in the area, even though they were fishing a long way from the nest.

So if you are out on the lake, be aware if loons are in the area.

And remind your family and friends to do the same.

And by taking care of our loons and giving them the space they need especially at nesting time,  we will be able to enjoy loons and their haunting calls that speak of the great north woods for many years to come.

Copyright  2015     Larry R Backlund