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No
chicks this year.
June 17,
2026 by Gene
Klco
It's been a few weeks
since I
was able to go north and check on the loons.
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Unfortunately, the loons
abandoned the nest. The black flies were fierce this year again & I
was not
up at the lake for a few weeks to aid them in ridding the black flies.
It was probably
too late in the year for them to lay eggs and hatch chicks. They
usually are
hatching by now. There were 4 eggs on the nest - so two attempts by the loons.
So I started to bring in the buoys first.
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All
the bottoms of the buoys and the sign were covered with slime. This
photo shows
what the slime looks like on the bottom of the sign. A scrub brush and
time is
all it takes to remove the slime. I don’t want to put it away till next
year with
the slime on.
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Then
the next day I went out to bring the nest in. I had to get in the water
to do that. So with swim suit on I waded out to the nest and piled the
cement
block anchors onto the nest to take them to the shore. I leave them on
the shore as it is in a county park where no one walks. Randy had
already taken the 4 eggs and the worthless fly traps off the nest. |
Then
it’s a matter of kayaking the nest back to our cottage. It’s not too
far.
On June 17th, after the chicks normally
would have hatched, I brought
the loon nest in and cleaned it up for winter storage. It's a sad day
for those of us on the lake who enjoy seeing the chicks grow up.
I
am already planning on a different method to rid the nest of black
flies. Unfortunately,
I won’t be able to test it out until next year. Fly paper!
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Next
Blog – 2026 Loons
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