Off to a Good Start

2025, No. 03 — June 12th

We were expecting the first Loon egg to hatch in the next couple of days. The cool, rainy weather may have helped this year. Free of pesky blackflies and the heat of the last couple of summers, the parents have been spending long periods on the nest without needing breaks in order to wash off flies or cool down. This morning, the first chick appeared (photo above) with Mom beside it. Fingers crossed that this summer will be kinder to her than the past year or so.

Jon has the great privilege of naming the chicks this year. Piper has been at the top of his list for a while. Piper will be a female loon because of her name even though we have no clue what Piper’s sex is. While we will not hear our Piper’s tunes, hopefully, some other lake may be blessed when Piper is a little older.

By early afternoon, Piper was briefly out on the water with her parents.

Piper is still being fed off her internal egg sac but will get regular drops of water from her parents; this drop is barely visible in Mom’s bill.

It’s always good to learn where your meals will come from for the next 4-5 months, and Piper seems to be catching on. The bit of grass in her mouth was something she picked up.

Meanwhile, Mom still has an egg to attend to, so she and Piper headed back to the nest.

PLEASE – PLEASE – This is such a critical time for our Loons, and they have been through so much trouble the last two years. Let’s give them peace and quiet and stay well away from the nesting area. We are taking these photos with high-powered cameras from private land and from a considerable distance, cropping them severely. Our goal is to share them with you so you can enjoy them and share them with others. If we all look out for this family, they will give us many chances to see them through the summer, and you will be our valued allies in protecting them from harm.

This is the time for lots of new life to be appearing around the lake and in our watershed. Some Mallard ducks have new young (below) as well as Common Mergansers, Canada Geese, and soon Wood Ducks and other birds.

We’ve been seeing a pregnant doe in the yard for a while, but not anymore. Yesterday, she brought her fawn for a brief visit. She might be another fawn as well, last year she had two.

With all the rain, it has been a tough start to the season for pollinators. Dandelions and other earlier bloomers in our yards have provided welcome food to all sorts of insects. Not just bees and wasps but beetles and butterflies as well. The butterfly below is an Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma).

We will be back, hopefully soon, with more Loon news as well as a celebration of spring and early summer flowers.

Back Soon…  Jen and Jon

Text and Photographs by Jen Esten and Jon Waage