You might think that incubation is very boring.  The loon just sits on the eggs for hours on end.  But the loon is usually alert, constantly monitoring the surroundings for threats, whether it be an eagle, a human, a raven, or another loon.  I only visit the pond once a week for one to two hours, and yet I often witness a possible threat to the incubating loon or its eggs.

So it was these past two weeks, when I visited on 6/21 and again on 6/27.  On 6/21, I found a truck already parked at the pond.  As I paddled down the pond toward the nest, I encountered the female in the center of the pond.  Suddenly the male pushed off the nest and wing-rowed toward the middle.  He had obviously been spooked by something.  Since he was off the nest, I paddled down to check to see if the eggs were still present and what had scared him.  A small boat was in the far, shallow end near the nest, and when the guy in the boat saw me, he turned and rowed further away.  He didn’t appear to have a fishing rod.  The eggs looked okay, so I paddled back toward the middle of the pond where the loon pair was.

Then I heard a .22 gunshot, and then another, and I realized that the guy in the boat was probably hunting frogs.  With binoculars I watched him reach a long-handled net and likely scoop up one of his victims.  Yes, it is legal in New York State to hunt frogs so I couldn’t ask him to stop and leave the west shallow end, since that is where most of the bullfrogs and green frogs live.  I just hoped that he would finish hunting and leave of his own accord, allowing the loons to get back on the nest.  At least he had moved further from the nest, but the occasional gunshots with their startling noise might keep the loons off the nest. 

On June 27 I visited Loon Pond again.  I was happy to see several surviving bullfrogs basking on logs.  I could see a loon on the nest from the opposite end of the pond, sitting upright in relaxed posture.  But soon after I put my canoe in, the loon hunkered down in hangover position, indicating stress.  Both loons are nervous incubators.  I encountered the female fishing and preening in the middle of the pond, so the male was the one on the nest.  Then I noticed a great blue heron hunting the shoreline, heading toward the loon nest.  Would the heron bother the loon nest?  What would the loon do when the heron got close?

I watched from a far distance, using binoculars and the telephoto lens of my camera.  The heron slowly walked along the shore, once stabbing at prey in the water.  It did not approach the nest rock but walked behind it, staying along the mainland shore.  The loon stayed in hangover position and did not seem alarmed by the heron’s presence.  The heron continued past the nest and was soon out of sight.

If all goes well, the eggs should hatch soon.  Hopefully they have not been chilled or overheated from the loons being scared off the nest for too long.  Who knows what other threats have occurred during all the time when I am not there to observe?  The eggs will have to survive the July Fourth weekend, a time of increased human visitation and disturbance.  Stay tuned to see if they do.

E. George, ACLC Field Staff & Loon Naturalist

Return to Blog Home Page