06/04/2026
LOON UPDATE FROM DICK WEST:
The First Chick Award for 2026 goes to…THE SOUTHERNMOST PAIR!!
This is an exciting event for us Loon Watchers. I have put the details of the chick sighting in my log entry for today. To be consistent in my reporting I am including my log entries since my last email report here, so if you just want today’s news scroll down to it…but there has been some interesting observations noted on other days as well.
The latest entries begin on…
5.29.26: I took a short paddleboat ride to check on the Snowflake and Gorham Beach nests. The loon sitting at Snowflake had its head tucked back taking a nap. There was a loon on the nest at Gorham Beach as usual and another loon way out but heading towards the nest. I watched for 20 minutes hoping to see another changing of the guard. No such luck. The neighbor’s dog was running around in the yard so that could have delayed the change
5.31.26: I waited for it to warm up a bit before I took a short kayak ride to check Snowrlake and Gorham Beach. Routine situation at both nests with a loon sitting and no other loons in sight. Took an evening paddleboat to check those two nests again. Same result.
6.1.26: Took a morning kayak ride to the sandbar.
Gorham Beach was sitting no other loons in sight all the way to the sandbar. Along the way I spotted a beaver at Al’s point going along the stones. It stopped at the end of the stones, grabbed a thin leafy branch and was carrying it back along the stones. It dove briefly with the branch, came back up after a short distance under water and continued on. A couple of minutes later it dove with the branch…and disappeared. Maybe it has an underwater entrance to a home behind the rocks. I watched for a few minutes and didn’t see it again…even on my return trip. South of the sandbar I saw two loons together looking like a pair northwest of the w**d bed. I couldn’t see the platform beyond the w**ds. My return trip was mostly away from shore and uneventful.
6.2.26: Had a beautiful paddleboat ride this morning. It was chilly but nearly dead calm the whole two and a half hours I was gone. I started out by heading straight towards the Greene property platform. As I passed Snowflake point there was a loon diving and heading south. I could easily see a loon sitting at Snowflake. When I got to the Greene property platform there were no birds in sight on it or near it. I went up to it and saw the straw had not been shaped into a nest bowl. There did appear to be a packed down area near one corner that could be an entrance and exit ramp. Other than that there are no other signs of that platform being used. In fact there is some green plant growth on the Greene’s platform… I continued north hoping to catch a friend along the way that just might be fixing breakfast. (It was pretty obvious the folks I know along that stretch saw me coming and ducked out of sight to avoid having me mooch a meal. I will have to be more sneaky next time.) Crossing back over to the west shore i headed towards Snowflake. At that point I got a call from Andy that he was watching a conference of nine loons near his place near the sandbar. It was a very active conference with all of them diving at once then resurfacing to dance and circle around. I bet that is where the loon I saw earlier was heading. The Snowflake loon was sitting and hunkered down so I went way out and around. One of my fisherman friends was heading towards Snowflake and passed quite close to the nest without further disturbing the loon. As I was just getting south of the platform a loon flew in, circled and landed close to me. I stayed still and it quietly headed over towards the nest…and a changing of the guard commenced! As the arriving loon approached, the sitting loon slid off the nest and swam out to meet it. They exchanged greetings before the arriving loon went to the platform. It swam around three sides and back looking things over before it hopped up on the platform and scooted up onto the nest. It poked around the nest fluffing the straw a bit and settled down. After a brief moment it rose up, as I expected, to turn the eggs before ruffling itself back down. It repositioned itself a couple of times before getting settled down and relaxing. As it was turning the eggs I got a glimpse of one egg and I’m pretty sure it was turning two. A very pleasant way to wrap up a very pleasant morning ride.
6.3.26: I took a kayak to the launch in Bellaire and paddled up stream into the lake. As I approached The Maples at about 10:00 I saw the platform was empty but a loon was close by. When I stopped at The Maples and took another look the loon was on the nest standing up tending the egg(s). I am 80% sure I saw a chick next to the adult before the adult ruffled its feathers and settled down. I watched for several minutes and didn’t see the chick again. I’m not positive it was a chick. I would expect the other adult to be there to feed and tend to a chick if there is one but the lake was very calm and there was no sign of another loon in the area. I do tend to see what I want to see many times…so did I see the end of a changing of the guard and missed seeing the other loon, or did I see the first chick of the year?? Who knows.
We do have a loon baby!!
The First Chick Award for 2026 goes to the southernmost pair! It really doesn’t matter what I saw or didn’t see this morning because this evening a chick was confirmed. At about 7:30 I decided to take my first pontoon ride of the year to go check on the southernmost nest. On the way I picked up Andy and Janet Hickman to have extra eyes aboard. The Gorham Beach nest still has a loon sitting on it. The eagle tree platform is empty but we saw two loons hanging around close to it both times we passed by tonight. As we approached the southernmost platform it was empty but two loons were close by. We stopped a long ways away to look for chicks with them. Sure enough, after watching for several minutes I spotted a baby on an adults back. That adult was staying close to the platform and moving very little. We were hoping to see a second chick, possibly with the other adult. But soon that adult dove so it definitely didn’t have a chick in tow. It came up with a snack and delivered it to the chick on probably the mother’s back. Still no second chick to be seen. The male then slowly moved away while the female slowly moved back towards the platform. At this point Andy and Jan had not clearly seen the chick so Andy was a bit skeptical of what I was seeing. (In my opinion every loon watcher should have image stabilizing binoculars to better see details like I was this evening.) Very soon the adult with the chick was back at the platform, circling it slowly. Then it hopped up on the platform dumping the chick in the water as it did. The chick immediately hopped up on the platform with mommy. Andy and Jan clearly saw it then. The adult checked the remaining egg and settled down on it.
The show was over for now. We will keep checking on that nest until we see a second chick or the nest is abandoned. There’s a very good chance we will have another chick there soon.
The Gorham Beach pair started sitting at about the same time so we can expect a hatch there very soon as well…if their eggs are healthy.
Dick West
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