Good News/Bad News

The first egg was laid at 3:07:55 AM this morning. At dawn, the loons could be seen tending and incubating the egg. Loons usually lay a second egg about one day later, so we can’t say for sure that this is a one egg clutch.

The bad news is that Simulium annulus, a black fly species that specializes on loons, is abundant this year. Sometime before 8:30 am the nest was abandoned. Around 9:35 am one of the pair made an attempt to incubate but within seconds its head was totally covered in black flies and it retreated back into the water. We are aware of this problem on at least one other pond in the state.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.