I have been out of the country for two weeks so I was not able to email any news until today. At 9 AM this morning (June 1st) I found “Mother” Loon on a nest with “Father” loon close-by.The nest is on the east side of the island about even with the NO WAKE Buoy. She is well hidden under a small maple tree which bends low over her. After watching her activity through binoculars (at a good distant from the island and in my kayak) I observed that she was still fussing quite a bit over making the nest. She was very active moving around on the nest. I am going to guess that she was preparing for laying eggs. Perhaps, she has laid them today. I will check again tomorrow and send out a short report if I can confirm that we have eggs.

Brad and I will be setting out signage and a  buoy boundary on the water this weekend. We will also put yellow caution tape to designate on the island where visitors should stay away from. If June 1st is the 1st day of gestation, we should be seeing chicks hatch by the end of the month. Gestation time for loons is about 28 days.  I will be working with Jason Dudek and if in the weeks ahead we should get heavy rain, we will attempt to lower the water level at the dam. In the meanwhile, we can get excited about our loon activity. I’d like to gently remind everyone that dogs are not permitted on the island.

Please feel free to contact me anytime you see something of interest or of concern. My home phone number  is 735-5586. Also, the loon preservation committee at 476-LOON (5666).

Enjoy these lovely warm days.