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The Kitchen Table

LOON report! Egg count!

16 years ago

There are now 2 eggs.

I don't know when it happened, perhaps this morning.

I heard a lot of noise and came running to the computer. They were both in the water and there were 2 eggs. I didn't see any preditor. Now it must be time to sit until they are hatched.

Does anyone know how long it takes?

I know mallards take 4 weeks.

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Comments (5)

gadgets
16 years ago
Thanks for the update. When I went on just a few minutes ago, she very graciously stood up to shift the eggs so I could see them. Will she lay anymore or is 2 the limit?

Shirley
joyfulguy
16 years ago
You're sure that it was egg-xactly 2??

o j
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Hi Caroline ... and all. I was surprised by your title ... up here, "PM" means "Prime Minister" (of our whole country, yet!). I thought, "Don't tell me that you have a Prime Minister ... counting eggs, too!". We're having a federal election coming up in October, so the major parties have been electioneering for some time. There have long been two major parties in our fair land, with another democratic socialist thrown in for good measure, who haven't traditionally had a major following ... ... and then, a few years ago, when a substantial part of the population in Quebec were talking about separating, they formed another party that sent some members to sit in our federal parliament. And then there are the Greens. This time, the somewhat untried son of a former prime minister is leading one of the major parties, but a union of the right wing side earlier resulted in their group forming a majority government a few years ago, and some fuss among them and a charismatic leader of the democratic socialists resulted in the democratic socialist party becoming the official opposition in the last parliament ... ... so now there's more or less a three-way race between the two traditional parties and the democratic socialists which has been the opposition recently. So ... I was wondering about a PM counting his eggs ... ... before they hatch? Come October., maybe? These guys can come up with Purple prose ... ... but if there are Martins among their crew ... ... I don't know their first names! ole joyfuelled ... who's unimpressed by political attack-ads: if ya ain't got somethin' worthwhile to say about your program - I don't care to listen to yer rant
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nanny98
16 years ago
I've been reading Larry's blog. egg was laid last night 9;20 or so. and it was snowing...with the camera gettting globs of snow. His blog is quite interesting as he tells of mr. muskrat (the night before) gnawing on the cables that power camera etc., and that mr muskrat did approach the nest and she gave him a piece of her mind (tremolo sound,quietly) and he left. This mornong, temp 32, she left the nest/eggs for 20 min, as there was/is an intruder on the lake...another loon. Larry's blog is worth reading, you can find a "thing" in the writiing below the photo. Keep watching!
hayjud_mn
Original Author
16 years ago
I used my fingers OJ, and with one on each hand that makes two! LOL

I think I read in the info on the right that it will be 2 eggs and then incubation. I assume that means only 2, but I could be wrong.

I was surprised at the length of time between #1 and #2 and the fact that she was sitting on that first egg most of the time inbetween. It seems to me that the first would hatch sooner.

We had mallards that chose our front flower bed for nesting at our previous house. They spent 2 weeks laying an egg each day and then she sat on the nest for 4 weeks. They all hatched at the same time. Before the next day the mother mallard had that string of ducklings follow her to the river. She didn't even lead them around the end of a ledge. She had those tiny little hatchlings climb up a 4-5 inch cement edge and then drop 2 feet down on the other side. From there they waddled behind mama about 400 feet to the river. That mama went at HER speed and we laughed at those little ones running like mad to keep up.

The ducks are safer in the water. That's why they go so soon. I wonder if that RUN to keep up with mama is to build their lungs for in the water. Unfortunately lots of the little ones get grabbed by turtles in the water. I don't recall ever seeing more than 2 ducklings, from each family, surviving that first summer.

Thank you, Nanny. I need to read all that.
kittywhiskers
16 years ago
I researched that it takes loon eggs 26-31 days to hatch, so we should have babies by the last of May or the first week of June.
Kittywhiskers

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