Wednesday, June 6 - Day 35, 6:57 a.m. CDT
51 degrees Sunny Wind S 10mph
Well, today is the fateful day that I approach with a mixture of great joy and some sadness. Joy over how wonderful it has been to watch these beautiful loons up close. They have been ever so faithful in tending to the nest, the eggs and now the chick! And what joy and smiles that little chick has brought to so many people!
I will be honest with you that for a while I had questions if EITHER of the eggs would hatch. You will remember the cold windy day that the eagle chased the loon off the nest and several waves washed over it, filling the nest with water until it could drain through, and dousing the eggs in the cold water! I didn't want to think it, but I really wondered if the chicks had been killed by the cold water.
So that made Sunday morning, one week ago, even MORE special when there was a lot of movement under the loon's wing and finally, ever so briefly, a tiny beak and eyes peaked out! Only to quickly disappear. Could it be true? Had the chick actually made it? Did we dare believe that we had a brand new little loon under that wing?
A couple hours later proved that YES!!!!, there was a new loon. For the "little black fuzzball" finally emerged to see and be seen! A whole new big world in front of him. No wonder he soon retreated to the safety under a wing.
But then the vigil for the second egg began!
And behavior that I (or many other 'loon people') had never witnessed. The adult returning to the nest, not once, but over and over. And miraculously the chick was able to get himself back up on the nest as well!
What a gift it was to be able to watch this little chick grow before our very eyes!
But this was not normal. This was not what loons usually do. Normally the chicks leave the nest within 24 hours, never to return again. Has this happened before in the wild? More than likely. But it is not the norm. It is not what you normally see.
I know some of you have struggled with the idea of removing the egg from the nest.
It may surprise you to know how much I have struggled with it as well. There is close to half of me that wants to just leave the egg there. But the other part of me tells me that this is not what loons "normally" do (and, oh, we ALL have so much more to learn about these wonderful birds!).
Maybe the artificial nesting platforms work just a little TOO good!
That thought has crossed my mind. The artificial nest has worked well to prevent predators from destroying the loon nest and killing the chicks. But it has also prevented predators from taking an egg which has been left unguarded for hours and days at a time. Almost certainly that unguarded egg would have been devoured by now and the loon would not have that strong tug to continue to return to the nest and incubate ....vainly incubate.
I have even gone so far as to question, for the first time, whether or not we should even place artificial nesting platforms like this.
But this one thing I know.....I have watched loons on this particular lake for many, many years. And it had been close to 40 years since I had seen loons on this lake successfully have any chicks. But in the last 4 years, they have nested EVERY year! They have laid a total of 8 eggs. They have hatched 5 chicks! Three of those chicks fledged and flew south for the winter (actually for 3 years). One was taken by something, probably a fish. And now we have the 5th chick! Alive, active and growing.
So has it been worthwhile? Has it been good for the loons? I think the answer is on balance a resounding yes.
Seven of you have written to express that you want us to leave the egg there. And I FULLY understand (and a certain part of me agrees with) those feelings.
But someone sent me a study last night where loons had been documented as staying on the nest 68 and 74 days when their eggs did not hatch. And by doing so, they missed any opportunity to renest for the season. (In this case, we don't want them to renest but we do want them to be able to spend 'normal' time with the chick.)
So we come to the difficult decision of removing this egg from the nest. What is best for the loons? We are way beyond the stage where there is a chance that this egg will hatch. The Minnesota DNR is in agreement as are a nationally known university, a nationally known zoo and another loon organization, that this is the right thing to do.
EVERYTHING I have done at each step along the way for the past 4 years has been in consultation with the DNR. And I would encourage you to never do anything with loons without first checking with your local DNR. Loons are a federally protected species and harassment carries fines and possible prison time.
What you need to know, by removing the egg, that it does not mean the webcam closes down immediately. We will leave it up for a while so that you can watch whatever there is to watch and to see if the loons come back to the nest or get on it. Or if removing the egg removes that "obligation" for them to return to the nest. One MORE opportunity for learning. So there are two steps here...removing the egg and eventually shutting down the cam for this year.
The nest will stay right where it is so that they can come back to it any time they want. It will only be taken in when they show no more interest in it.
Some of you have asked what we will do if the loon is on the nest at 2pm. Obviously, I will not do anything as long as they are there. So we will then just plan to do it an hour later at 3pm. And if they are there at 3pm, then at 4pm. (I can hear a few of you saying "Stay there little loon! Stay there!" ) And so on.
The egg will be examined by experts and we will learn whatever we can from it... with the goal of helping loons even more in the future. And we will let you know any results of what we learn.
Some of you have also asked how the loons will react. I don't know. I hope that they are not even in the area at the time. But I have seen before where they just sort of quickly "appear out of nowhere"! So it would not be unusual if they appear and watch.
If they do, I would expect to see territorial defense behavior because they are still very territorial at this stage. (In fact yesterday, there was a pontoon with two fishermen who came within their range and the male started calling and diving and doing the penguin dance. When I heard it, I went to look to see what was happening. They thought that it was great that the loon was doing a "show" for them. I called from shore to the fishermen and asked them if they could fish a little farther away since this was a loon nesting area. Without hesitation, they immediately agreed and moved on. And that is typical of what I have seen of people. They are not malicious. Sometimes we simply love our loons too much!)
So watch on the edges of the cam...you may see a loon come in close and possibly exhibit some territorial behavior or even the penguin dance. I will take the egg and then leave the area quickly, especially if they are around. Then you can watch to see if they get back up on the nest and watch to see how they react. One MORE learning opportunity.
ENJOY them again today! And be thankful that we have one healthy active chick!
LOON CAM ANNOUNCEMENT!
After talking with the DNR and other specialists today, the decision has been made that it is best all the way around to remove the egg from the nest. I know some of you want to just leave it there and there is a part of me that wants to do that also. It is a hard decision to make but everyone is in agreement that the decision to remove the egg is the right one.
So we will proceed with our plans to remove the egg from the nest at 2pm CDT on Wednesday, June 6th.
The egg will then be taken and x-rayed and any further testing will be decided on after the x-rays are done.
I WILL be sure to update you when we have any information to share with you (although I will be out of town quite a bit over the next couple weeks so there will not be a daily Larry's Loon Log). But when we have any information from the results of the tests we will be sure to pass them along to you.
You have so much time and emotional energy invested as well and this is YOUR nest and YOUR egg and YOUR loons! You have made this whole project such an amazing experience! THANK YOU!!
And throughout the rest of the summer, I will periodically give you an update on how the chick is doing and how the loons are doing. Hopefully the report will be that the chick grows to adulthood and migrates south this fall!
::whyclick::
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Topic: LOON CAM (Read 6491 times)
