Loon Cam and Egg
This just in from Carrol Henderson:
Hi, Sharon. I thought you would like to know about the KARE-11 Loon Cam outcome. One chick hatched last week and one egg remained unhatched. Larry Backlund from Lake George in Anoka County is the host to the loon cam. Today he brought in the unhatched egg after getting my permission to retrieve it to see what happened to it. Below is my response to him, along with an image of the x-ray. Thanks to the Wildlife Rehab clinic for taking time out of helping the injured critters to x-ray the loon egg.
I had the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic in Roseville x-ray the unhatched loon egg. The x-ray shows a small air sac at the left, then the faint image of a loon chick's head viewed from above, with the bill pointing down and slightly to the left, and to the right of the head is the yolk sac. From the small size of the air sac and the large size of the yolk sac, I would guess that the chick was perhaps more than one-half and maybe up to two-thirds through incubation when it died. If the chick had been near hatching when it died, the air sac should have been larger and the yolk sac would have been much smaller. It is possible that the immersion from the waves over the nest could have contributed to the death of the chick. Thank you for taking the time to bring the egg by the DNR office.
Hi, Sharon. I thought you would like to know about the KARE-11 Loon Cam outcome. One chick hatched last week and one egg remained unhatched. Larry Backlund from Lake George in Anoka County is the host to the loon cam. Today he brought in the unhatched egg after getting my permission to retrieve it to see what happened to it. Below is my response to him, along with an image of the x-ray. Thanks to the Wildlife Rehab clinic for taking time out of helping the injured critters to x-ray the loon egg.
I had the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic in Roseville x-ray the unhatched loon egg. The x-ray shows a small air sac at the left, then the faint image of a loon chick's head viewed from above, with the bill pointing down and slightly to the left, and to the right of the head is the yolk sac. From the small size of the air sac and the large size of the yolk sac, I would guess that the chick was perhaps more than one-half and maybe up to two-thirds through incubation when it died. If the chick had been near hatching when it died, the air sac should have been larger and the yolk sac would have been much smaller. It is possible that the immersion from the waves over the nest could have contributed to the death of the chick. Thank you for taking the time to bring the egg by the DNR office.
posted by birdchick at 3:15 PM
6 Comments:
My office mate and I watched these loons every day at work with great interest (via the miracle of the internet!) It was so neat to watch the little baby that hatched interacting with its parents. We were sad the other egg never hatched. Thanks for sharing the analysis of the egg with us. I will share your post with my office mate tomorrow morning.
I see no point whatsoever in removing the egg for X-ray. It should have been left where it was. I am currently watching two Osprey nests which have eggs in them which are unlikely to hatch. They are likely either to be kicked out of the nest by the birds themselves or explode. Leave nature to sort out its own problems as it always will. Precisely what has been gained by this removal?
Well, nesting on a raft isn't really a natural thing for the loons to do (I don't think)and because of that I feel we need to adjust our thinking regarding an unhatched egg. More than enough time was given for it to hatch and it didn't and now we see it would not have. Had the nest been in a "natural" setting that unhatched egg would not have lasted very long. The parents NEED to teach the hatched chick how to survive and they have to be off the nest to do that...it's usual that they leave the nest and seldom return til next season, as they deal with their chick.
I'm sorry both eggs didn't hatch but one DID and that chick has to be cared for. Groups that study Loons know how difficult it is for them to breed successfully every year and by studying an unhatched egg they may learn so much about why it didn't hatch. Toxins that WE put into our runoff and in our lakes are killing these birds as the food they eat is contaminated. Biologists know this, study this, and try to teach us how to be better citizens of the Earth.
Larry did the absolute correct thing by allowing the egg to remain in the nest well after it's hatching date....and he didn't make the decision alone - he has reputable, professional biologists and scientists supporting him. By allowing the egg to reamin 10 days or more after it's hatch date coupled with the strong instinct of the parents to keep coming back to the raft nest - I believe Larry has given the HATCHED chick a better chance at survival. That little chick was more protected ON the nest than he would've been swimming around the lake night & day as is usual behavior. No large mouth bass was able to swallow it up...you get the picture.
Nature will always solve it's problems BUT please remember that the raft nest IS NOT a natural nest! All bets are off as we all learn new things. Thank you Larry for caring as you do - and thanks Birdchick for a great new site!
Jac in Maine
I am glad someone posted this site, amazing to see the egg. I am surprised the loon family is returning so much to the nest site.
Karen in Denmark, Maine
Many many years ago, loon habitat started to become 'unnatural'. The lakes increasingly have become polluted with the waste from human activity. The waters have increasingly been populated by people fishing and engaging in a variety of water sports. In my opinion, the lakes will never be 'natural' again, and so we must do 'unnatural' things like build loon nest rafts and remove unhatched eggs for study so that we know the effects of our activites and how to mitigate the damage.
It has been fun to watch these loons become parents and see them bring a catch for the chick. It was funny to watch on those last sighting days as how the growing chick wanted to be under parents wing, but due to size, comes falling out the other side. Last time I watched them was a particularly windy day creating large waves. Chick on nest while parent keeps watch from water from the nest edge. Parent then jumps on the nest but only for a moment, then jumps off, now with chick in tow. But waves are a bit much for chick and he swims back to nest, attemping to get back up on nest. For a moment the parent isnt in camera view. But a moment later, comes back and parent and baby leave together.
Does anyone know where they have been seen since and will theree be a compiled video for purchase?
Christine
whalerider36#comcast.net
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