Nesting is Done

After trying to incubate the egg on the nest for two days, Mom, Dad, and the chick that hatched on June 17 packed up and moved to a brooding area in another location on the pond. We waited for 24 hours to be sure the loons didn’t come back to the nest and we then collected the unhatched egg from the nest. We will inspect this egg and try to determine why it did not hatch.

Although it may seem sad that only one egg hatched, We view this as a successful nest. If the loon parents are able to raise the chick to fledge, then they will be twice as successful as the average pair. Typically, only one chick survives for every two territorial pairs in New Hampshire. That is precariously close to the survival rate needed for long term sustainability of the population (0.48 per pair). So, you can see why the recovery of the loon population is happening so slowly.