Well, another year, another failure.  just heard from the neighbour at the lake that the loons abandoned the nest yesterday.  It then rained like crazy and they can't even see the nest any more.  There is a slim chance they might start a 3rd nest, but it's very rare.  I think we're done again.  They made it to day 20; only 9 more to go and then failure.  So sad.  Might try blogging again next year!

 

This is the second nest this pair of loons have attempted this spring. The first was washed out by the rising Lake of the Woods levels over the past few weeks. The Lake is controlled by an outlet to the Winnipeg River System (which eventually empties into Lake Winnipeg) and it seems like they haven't quite got a hold of how much water to let out or hold...  One would think that loons aren't so smart as they seemingly should build their nests higher up the land. The problem with loons is that they need to nest right next to the water as they are unable to walk on land. Their back legs are situated so far back in their bodies that walking is impossible. They actually drag themselves up on the nest with their wings!  This design, however, allows them to swim like a fish.  

This second nest and its 2 eggs were set up on June 1st and it takes about 29-30 days for the eggs to incubate. As long as the water doesn't rise, the eggs don't get wet, the local eagles don't eat the eggs (The loons leave the nest up to an hour at a time), I might have 2 baby loons to photograph right in the beginning of July! Hope to be out at the lake next weekend (June 23rd) to update the blog.