June 18: Bad news again...

Gee, that lousy weather, rising lake, storms etc. are dooming our loon nesting prospects. The neighbor reports the loons, after a particularly rough and stormy night, are no longer on the nest. She's going to to check the nest out sometime soon (when it stops raining) to see if the egg is still there, but this doesn't look promising. I've never heard of a 3rd laying, so I'm betting this is the end of the run for this year. Sadly, since they didn't have success at this location, they likely won't return to the same spot to try again nest year. We're not out to the lake for another 10 days, so we'll see.

June 13: Great news! (a little tempered)

The great news is that there is a new nest in our bay with a loon sitting on one egg! Apparently the bird(s) have been nesting since last Wed or so and we launched our trusty paddleboat and slowly drifted into the nests' general area. After much patience, the loon got up to check what the heck was underneath her (or him, they take turns) and lo and behold, one egg!

The problem is that with all the rain in the area, is that the potential for the lake to rise is significant. The nest, as with all loon nests, is very close to the water and it would take perhaps another 3 or 4 inches and this nest would be swamped as well. The 27 (ish) days to incubate is a very long time considering the fluctuating water levels Lake of the Woods can experience.... we can only hope.

On a sad note, we checked out the "man-made" nesting platform and the last remaining egg is gone and the nest is almost disintegrated beyond recognition (not from an alien ray beam either) The theory that the crashed boat in their vicinity scared them off is my best theory to date.

To see more of my photos of loons and other stuff, check out http://www.loonphotography.com

Lastly, I might be putting on a gallery show in Kenora at the Sunset Gallery. I would have a weekend where I could show and sell my photos of my loons and landscapes. Anyone interested in a drive out to Kenora??

June 11: maybe, maybe not...

Neighbour has been keeping an eye on the nesting site. Apparently the loons have been on and off the grass throughout the last few days. She is going to get closer and see if she can spot any eggs. If there is an egg(s) then the hatching would come the week of July 4th. (if all goes well; no high water, no sneaky eagle snacking etc.)

June 6: loss and hope

Arriving Saturday, we began to search for loon pairs and boated out to check out the floating nest that we had found two weeks past. Oddly, there was no loon on the floating nest and only one egg. We checked a few more times throughout the day but no loon came to sit. I guess either one egg hatched and one didn't or something else happened to scare away the loons and one egg has been eaten. Regardless, there was nothing to see there. (edit. Sunday. We heard there had been a high speed boat crash involving alcohol and fog, onto the tiny island and right beside the loon nest the week before. Chances are the crash and subsequent rescue and cleanup probably scared the loons away. How sad that our poor decisions always affect someone or something else)

On Sunday we started noticing that "our" pair of loons seemed to be hanging around the 1st nesting area in our bay. As the day progressed, the two even took to climbing on the land for short periods of time. The birds also spent a great deal of time during the day being together (nudge nudge wink wink)

(mature material alert, ha ha ) At one point one of the birds climbed onto the shore (close to the 1st nest) and the other climbed up behind, then on top of the first bird and then over and onto the grass in front of the first bird! Well, this did look suspiciously romantic and I figured we should run back to the cabin and grab some tea candles and some Barry Manillo music...

Well, I'm no expert, but this looks mighty suspicious and after doing a big more research it definitely looks like they're trying to do a second laying. I'll have the neighbor keep a close lookout and keep my blog as current as possible. We are planning on going out next weekend. If they nest again and the gestation period is around 26-31 days, then I'll be on summer vacation and will hopefully be at the lake to photograph some more baby loons... yeee haaa!

To see more of my photos of loons and other stuff, check out http://www.loonphotography.com