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3
Eggs!
Apr 16, 2022 by Gene Klco
With 3 eggs in 2020 and none hatched, we wondered what was
going on. Must have been pandemic related. Seriously, the boat traffic was
high. With the pandemic, people wanted to get outdoors & be safe. But lots
of boaters and jetskis, the loons were not staying on the nest like they
usually do. I was stuck downstate as well – with the “don’t go to your cottage”
and spread Covid mandate in the spring of 2020.
I generally try to put the ANP in the lake as soon as
possible when the ice comes off the lake. In 2021 the winter in Michigan was
reasonably mild. So while I usually get the ANP in the lake in late April, in
2021 I put it in on April 9th.
But the loons were not impressed.
They circled the nest many times, but didn’t get on it till late April. Must be
their body clocks told them the early April was too early.
The amazing thing
was that we saw that they were sitting on 3 eggs, again!
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First
one of the eggs hatched on Thursday, June 17, 2021.
The photo
shows the adult turning over the other eggs as #1 chick watches.
We were at the lake that week with our daughter
and grandson. We were scheduled to leave the next day. I hoped the loons would
hatch the others two, but no.
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So we drove
home – a 4 hour trip. Later that day I got a call from one of our lake
neighbors - the other 2 loon chicks hatched! So I had to go back. I only had a
weekend to make the trip as I needed to be at home on Monday.
So l took off early in the morning to see the three chicks.
It was worth the trip even with only one day to get photos of
the three chicks with their parents.
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The parents were not interested in letting me get too close
to take the photos, so I did what I could with my 100-400 mm lens. Not
surprisingly, the male loon was telling me to stay back.
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The next day, Sunday, was raining and windy - no more photo
opportunities.
Sadly, the third chick disappeared a week later on June 27th. As
rare as having 3 eggs hatch, it is even extremely rare for all 3 to survive the
summer. We were happy that the two other loon chicks did survive the summer.
Next blog: a change of the female loon.
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