Thanks to a dear friend’s recommendation, I’ve spent a lot of time the last couple of days watching the Minnesota Loon Cam. This nesting pair is is on a loon raft, which intrigued me.
One of the eggs hatched in the early morning hours and I’ve had so much fun watching the little one toddle around while the adults try to keep sitting on the remaining egg.
All of a sudden, in spite of the light rain, I felt the urge to grab my binoculars and head to my own lakefront. We’d recorded eight inches of rain over the last two days, and I knew that while that same dear friend had seen an adult loon on the nest Saturday morning, no one had mentioned it since.
I trudged through the wet underbrush to the top of a steep banking at the lake’s edge and gasped. The lake was so high! I trained my binoculars on the island across from me. No matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find the nest. The shore line was gone.
I heard a wail off to the right. And an answering cry to the left. The adults met in the middle and there, tucked under the protective wing on the back of one of them was a little, black fuzzy baby.
At first, I was sad not to see two. I believe the rising waters of the lake kept the second egg from hatching. But there’s one, and he’s gorgeous!
I don’t have pictures yet, but I hope to have some soon! Here’s last year’s babies though . . .
