July 22, 2018 - Loon Baby

For over 20 years, we have provided a nesting platform on our lake for Common Loons to use. The first one I built lasted many years and when it wore out, I built this one which is currently in use. We put it out as soon as the ice leaves the lake and the loons are there the next day checking it out.

LoonCommonnestingplatformDunningLakeItascaCounty20180630

This year’s loon story began May 18 when we saw the first egg in the nest. A second egg followed the next day and the loons started incubating the eggs. The grasses on the platform were just beginning to grow. Notice the tiny spruce tree in the upper left corner of the photo.

LoonCommononeeggnestDunningLakeItascaCounty20180518

The male and female loons took turns incubating the eggs. But on May 23, we noticed both loons were off the nest all day. We went to the nest and found this tragic scene. I sent this photo to our contact person at the MN Loon Monitoring Project and he thought it might have been a mink or an otter that did this. When a nest fails early in the incubation process, loons often try again. Sure enough, about a week later there were two more eggs in the nest and the loons started incubating again.

LooneggsbrokenDunningLakeItascaCounty20180523

This is what the platform looks like when the grasses have all grown up. One of the loons is in front of the platform.

LoonCommonnestplatformDunningLakeItascaCounty20180629

An adult loon is sitting on the nest in this photo. The tall grasses are very effective at hiding the bird.

LoonCommonsittingnestplatformDunningLakeItascaCounty20180620

The second set of eggs were not disturbed and on June 30 we got our first look at a baby loon. This is a long distance shot because the adult loons are very nervous and don’t like us to approach close to them when they have a chick.

LoonCommonadultswithonechickDunningLakeItascaCounty20180630

A check of the nest found only egg fragments. We don’t know what happened to the second egg, but we are thrilled to have at least one baby loon this year.

LoonCommonnestingplatformDunningLakeItascaCounty20180630

This photo was taken two weeks after the one above. Notice how big the juvenile loon is already. From our experience, if the baby makes it through the first week, it’s almost certain to make it through the summer. The rest of the summer will be spent growing to adult size, learning to feed itself, and learning to fly.

LoonCommonadultandjuvenileDunningLakeItascaCounty20180713