06/02/2026
Loons most often have a two-egg clutch, but sometimes they will lay just one egg and in extremely rare occasions may lay as many as three. Eggs are typically laid 1–3 days apart.
Once the first egg is laid, incubation is typically sporadic until the clutch is complete. After their clutch is complete, the loons begin to incubate the eggs much more consistently. Egg development requires pretty precise temperature regulation, and as such, the loons must incubate more or less constantly. To achieve this, the male and female take turns tending the nest, usually in shifts lasting 2-6 hours. During the first week of incubation, the male may spend a bit more time on the nest than the female, doing 50–60% of the incubating. This may allow the female more time to forage in order to recover from the energetic demands of producing and laying two large eggs. But by week four of incubation, females are typically doing up to 60% or more of the incubating.
Photo credit: Virginia and Daniel Poleschook
