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No Chicks Yet
June 12,
2022 by Gene Klco
It seems that I don’t get the timing right to be at our
cottage when the chicks hatch. This year was no different. I wish I could spend
the whole summer at the cottage, but too many commitments at home prevent
that.
So what did I see? Well a few days were windy and I could
only observe them from shore through binoculars. I also spent about a day &
half going to some of the larger cities in Northern Michigan promoting my loon
books and was able to place them in 5 new stores – mainly gift shops with an ‘Up
North’ theme.
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When the wind died down, I ventured over to see the loon on
the nest. Something was bothering it, since it was lying low on the nest – a
position a loon takes to hide from danger. Sometimes that is perceived danger –
as a person too close, or an eagle flying over head. This time it was laying
low as I was leaving our dock – many hundreds of yards away. It stayed down the
whole time I was out and longer. |
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Another day, I observed the “changing of the guard”, as it
were. The lake is rather small and most often during the day, one of the loons
stays on the nest while the other flies away - my guess to Lake Michigan which
is reasonably close and has a much larger fish population. I saw the two loons
gather up in the middle of the lake. They spent a while together before one
went to the nest while the other flew away.
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As I watch from outside the buoys, the loon eventually
climbed on the nest from the back and turned the eggs. This photo shows the
eggs as the loon is turning them.
I have blown up the image of the two eggs
below the loon’s chest.
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Although the local eagles have not been able to attack the
loon eggs on the nest, they still make their presence known occasionally. This
eagle was in a tree overlooking the nest, till I got close, then it flew
away to the opposite shore.
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So
mostly, the loons rest peacefully on the nest, enjoying the warmer weather and
a pleasant view.
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Next Blog: Loon Chicks?
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 XXXX 
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