The weather kept me from visiting the loons for several days. I was out to see the Middletons last Thursday, May 18. I didn’t get back until last evening. And I had a chance to visit the Westons this morning. Let’s see how they’re doing.
I’ll be at the Paradise City Art Show in Northampton, MA this coming weekend. Stop by and say hello. I’ll have lots of prints, from small to large, and note cards with lots of critters. All the show details here.
Last Thursday was another chilly morning, with a little bit of fog on the water.
I hit the water well before dawn, ready to make some nice images. The loons slept in. Eventually, the loons woke and continued their exploration of alternate nesting sites. The looked at three sites, with both loons climbing out of the water and sitting a couple minutes on the site. The literature says the male picks the site, but these two were discussing it at length. Maybe the male picks the site like I’m picking the colors for repainting our kitchen? The spotted sandpipers were out foraging along the water’s edge and on downed trees. This eastern phoebe stopped by to feed off of the many black flies that I’d attracted. Eventually our loons headed back to last year’s nesting site. One crawled out and sat and fidgeted long enough that I hoped we had an egg. No such luck. Still thinking about it…. All this thinking must have been exhausting, they tucked in for a nap. Our great egret was flying about. And a few Canada geese returned from their errands. This one looks little surprised to see the water coming up at him so fast.
I returned yesterday evening, much to the delight of the black flies.
When I arrived, there was a loon on last year’s nesting site, with the other one floating nearby, hooting softly. The loon on the water wandered off to feed and preen. I went exploring the marsh. This gander was giving me a look. I suspect he was plotting my demise…. The red-winged black birds were very active, with females hauling nesting material and everyone feeding on bugs. The loon not on nest duty returned to the nest four time through the evening. They didn’t exchange nest duty, but they had a conversation with lots of soft hooting.
This morning I headed off to check in on the Westons. It became a beautiful morning after a chilly 38° start, with lots of nice fog on the water. The last few years, the Westons have been about a week behind the Middletons in mating and nesting. They must have a new calendar this year.
One of the Westons was out slowly cruising in the fog when I arrived. Our geese were commuting to and fro on the pond. I could hear them long before I could see them through the fog. A pair of wood duck drakes were looking sharp, even in the fog. The loon not on nest duty took time to preen in the cove where the nest is. A pair of geese ventured too close to the nest. The preening loon dove. The geese saw him coming and decided they would prefer to be somewhere else right about now. Geese vanquished, preening was completed and we got a nice stretch. I hadn’t spotted the nest yet. While I was watching the loon not on duty stretch, a second loon surfaced close by and gave a stretch. They both took time to preen. And finishing up with another nice stretch. One of the loons returned to the nest. Again, I’m shooting with a 600mm lens and cropping the image. Please give nesting loons lots of room.
This handsome fellow was out celebrating World Turtle Day today. As good a reason to go wild as any!
It will be next week before I get a chance to get back to check on them. I’ll let you know what I find. Enjoy the holiday weekend and please remember the U.S. military personnel who gave their lives to protect us
