Thursday, July 1, 2010 12:32am CDT

63 degrees   Quiet

 

I wanted to share with you information that I just received today from Carrol Henderson at the Minnesota DNR about the two eggs that did not hatch.

 

As you know, we had them x-rayed and the x-rays showed that one had not developed at all and the other one had a "small dark spot" just under the air sac.

 

Here is what Carrol's email from today said.

"Hi, Larry,

Well, on Sunday afternoon I mustered all my courage and gathered up the two loon eggs from the refrigerator (I promised Ethelle they wouldn’t smell!) and took them to the backyard with my egg drill and oologist’s blowpipe tool for blowing out the eggs.  The egg that you picked from the nest was totally rotten—infertile.  The second one that had the air sac and had floated into the lake had a small embryo of a loon chick which would have been the dark mass just under the air sac.  It had apparently died early in incubation. Uffda did it smell awful, and by the time I finished after about 30 minutes, I had a large entourage of flies observing  the process.  I have refrigerated the eggs and need to get back to them to flush out the inside of the eggs with water to remove more of the smell. They are still pretty rank."

So he has gone WAY beyond the call of duty to give us the maximum amount of information about what happened with the eggs!  He is a great person to work with and he is in charge of all the non-game wildlife programs in Minnesota!

Then he also said, "It looks at this point like we will be able to capture the three loons that we need for the satellite transmitter project at sites that include some that your contacts have provided. I will  keep you posted on our progress."

So thank all of you who gave us some insight and information about loons that have had chicks this year.  As I find out more, I will try to keep you informed.

Once again, I hope that all of you in the US have a wonderful and safe 4th of July.

And just a reminder if you are on lakes anywhere there are loons.  Remind the people you are with to be on the lookout for loons.

Adults can do fairly well with boat traffic and dive out of danger.  But even so there have been reports of adult loons hit and killed by boats and jet skis.  So just ask your family and friends to be aware that they are sharing the lake with loons.

But more important are chicks.

This is probably the most vulnerable time for chicks.

Their first two weeks of life are when there is the highest chick mortality.  Once they make it beyond two weeks, their life expectancy goes up dramatically.

Why is that?

There are several reasons.  For the first few days to a week of their life, chicks cannot dive.  They will try to dive but at most they go down a couple inches and then just pop up to the surface like a cork!  So if a fast boat or jet ski is headed straight at them and bearing down on them, they may try to dive but they cannot dive deep enough to get out of harm's way.  And they are so small that unless a boater is being very observant, he will probably not even know that he has hit and killed a baby loon.

Secondly, with a lot of boat traffic, there is a chance that the chicks will be separated from the adults.  Not only are they in danger of being hit, they are also then in danger of a large fish or turtle eating them or an eagle or gull snatching them.

So they enter one of the most dangerous periods of their lives.  And unfortunately the busy 4th of July weekend coincides exactly when so many loons have their new chicks out on the lake for the first time.  If they can make it through this weekend and the first two weeks of life, the chances of them surviving are very encouraging.

You can help by just reminding your family and friends to be on the lookout for loons and new baby chicks when they are out on the lake.  You could very well save a new generation of loons!  And with the threat of the Gulf oil disaster looming for our loons, every chick is especially important this year.

So have a wonderful holiday!  Enjoy your family and friends and our history.

And especially enjoy our LOONS! 

Comments

[Pam UK]

What a shame that our Loons were sitting on infertile eggs all that while. I am now wondering WHY they were infertile. Could it possibly be due to mercury? If satellite tags are attached to some local loons this year I hope we may be able to follow their progress on the internet in the way that we already can with the some Ospreys.

[Sharon K, NC]

Larry, this confirms what you suspected as soon as you had both eggs in hand. Kudos to Carrol -- he must love loons as much as everyone here does, and it's really good to have that "Nth degree" information. I wonder if the embryo stopped developing when the loon was off the nest for such extended periods when it was so cold. We'll never know the answer to that, but we at least know for sure that taking that second egg was truly an act of mercy. I look forward to hearing about the progress of the satellite project -- as well as any observations you may have about our loons as the summer progresses. I hope you and your family enjoy a fantastic 4th of July.

[Sheila]

Thank you for sharing Larry.

[Tess - OH]

Thanks for updating this Larry! And you and your family have a Safe and Happy 4th of July as well!

[nancy in va]

Larry, I've been reading about Carrol Henderson just recently. He does sound like a dear friend and good man to do this extra research on the eggs. From what I've read, he really loves his birds! and is wife is so involved, too. What a team.

[nancy in va]

Did anyone on here watch tonight's NBC's Nightly News with Ann Curry serving as anchor-person? I do believe that she had tears in her eyes after the final segment regarding Gulf oil effects on marine wildlfe. (I did!) They showed volunteers digging up hundreds of sea turtle eggs in Alabama to be moved to east coast locations in Florida. Will that work? Are the eggs good from the turtles living in the bad waters? Other forms of sealife were included in the report. It was a warning to ME (personally) to be prepared for even more than we've already heard and seen about wildlife from the gulf. I'll continue to watch, but can't help but feeling more and more saddened with each report that I read or see.

[Richard]

I know nothing about this but I've been wondering if it would be possible to modify the nesting area so that it would be very hard for an egg to roll into the water. Thanks for everything.

[Carley Sala]

If we could get rid of the speed boats and jet skis and remove all the gas and oil from the lakes, the loons would be better, the lakes would be better, people would thrive and the world would be a better place for all creatures.

[Chris]

Carrol Henderson should be declared a Minnesota state treasure! The DNR's treatment of him a few years ago was shameful. Thanks to Carrol and most of all to you Larry for everything you do!

[Shamrock817 in Excelsior]

Last post to Larry..... and so it goes, and so it goes.......... I just watched the last of 3 bluebirds 'fly the coop'! (I believe it is called fledging)........ they are out East somewhere in upper N.Y. I think. And the Hornby eaglet is getting ready to leave any day now. And so it goes...... somehow I feel like someone with an 'empty nest' :-)
'

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