The Loon nest that I have been watching since April will not be producing any chicks this year. Today is day 40 or 38, depending on which egg is left on the nest, egg one or egg two. Normal hatch time is 28 days. One of the eggs was rolled off into the water twice, one time Larry retrieved it and placed it back in the nest..the next time he did not replace the egg. The remaining egg is ten to twelve days past the hatch date. From what I have viewed with this set of loons they have been haphazard parents at best, in my opinion this is a first year set of parents, they have been nothing like the nesting loons from previous years. I am convinced that if this nest was on shore a predator would have gotten the eggs by now. Anyway, the nesting platform in the case of an old egg is not a good thing. The Loon doesn't know when to give up, and will not abandon it, there is a powerful bond between the Loon and it's eggs. The likelihood of predators taking the old egg are slim. Larry is going to remove the egg tonight about 11PM Central Time, so that it can be taken into the DNR, and so that the Loons can go on with their lives. The State Bird of Minnesota is the Common Loon.
Yesterday we checked on the Showy Lady's Slippers or Cypripedium reginae, the State Flower of Minnesota. They are blooming very nicely, a week earlier than normal. Today we hope to get to the big hillside at Snellman, Minnesota and another secret location to check out the blooms.
I made some posters for Far Guy. I guess he was in charge of the advertising for the Fire Halls annual fundraiser. Every year on Father's Day they have a huge picnic, including homemade pies and roast pork. Since I am no good at pies, I made them posters:)
** Update, Thanks to my readers the mystery plant yesterday was identified as a Blackberry!
