News From the LoonCam1 Family
While our current Loon Cam pair continues to persevere under the duress of heatwaves and fireworks, let’s pause a moment to check in on our first Loon Cam family. The chicks are now 2 weeks old and growing fast. Mom and Dad are still together and getting along fine, so apparently he hasn’t held any grudges about her last minute fling of freedom.
We at LPC are just as anxious as our Loon Cam viewers to keep tabs on this family throughout the rest of the season. In fact, determining the ultimate outcome of every loon territory in New Hampshire has been part of our mission for the last 43 years. But, truth be told, now that the chicks are hatched, the eggshell fragments collected, the ropes and signs hauled in and stored for next year and the paperwork brought up to date, this territory becomes a low priority for our regional field biologist. He needs to spend time on the lakes that have the loose ends; the ones with multiple loons that are playing a game of musical territories; the lakes where obstinate loons refuse to do a foot waggle (gotta get those band readings!); the lakes where the loons are acting strangely and might need a rescue.
If you pray for the welfare of the Loon Cam #1 family, then you should be hoping that the regional biologist doesn’t return to the lake this summer. At least, not until the final week, when he will see two chicks in their late stages of molting into juvenile plumage and he can type “2” into the chicks surviving box of the report form. But meanwhile, we will occasionally badger one of our local volunteers for verification that all is well. Keep good thoughts.
