May 9, 2021 - Dunning Lake

Our northern Minnesota home is located on Dunning Lake in Itasca County. It’s a small lake, only 60 acres. Today I’m taking you on a boat ride around the lake. These photos were all taken about a week ago.

Every year we have Common Loons on our lake. They arrive soon after the ice is gone from the lake.

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We put out a “loon platform” so they can build a nest on it. Loons have tried building a nest along the shoreline but invariably some predator raids the nest and eats the eggs. The loon platform is anchored about 50 feet out in the lake, so predators don’t bother trying to get out there. Various grasses grow in the dirt on the platform. The dried grass from last year is still there, and new grass will soon provide even more cover. Look closely and you can even see a small spruce tree growing on the right side of the photo. It looks like the Loons have already started making a space for their nest.

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We also put out a Wood Duck box. We have had Wood Ducks use it, but more often we seem to get Hooded Mergansers. They need the same size entrance hole as Wood Ducks do. Several mornings I’ve seen a male Hooded Merganser swimming near the box, so I suspect the female was inside laying an egg.

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I checked inside the box and found seven eggs. The female duck will usually lay one egg every two days. She will not start incubating until all her eggs are laid. That insures they will all hatch on the same day. I’m not going to open the box again because I don’t want to disturb the female after she starts incubating.

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This Tree Swallow is checking out the duck box. Tree Swallows are well known for adding white feathers to their nests. The previous photo shows why this bird is interested in the contents of the duck box.

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It was a bright and sunny day, so every log that stuck out of the water had Painted Turtles on it soaking up some rays.

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We’ve had as many as six Trumpeter Swans feeding on our lake this year. Today there were four of them.

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When the Swans took off, I managed to get a flight shot of two of them.

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Diana spotted this Mink walking along the lake shore. We have seen Mink before, but it’s a pretty rare sighting.

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The white patch under the chin is a distinctive feature of a Mink.

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This photo shows how long and thin a mink is. It has short legs and a long tail.

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