Loon maternity unit deployed on Benedict Lake today, April 2.

[TLS Guy]

As some of you may recall I have been building an aluminum pontoon loon nesting raft for Benedict Lake.

The Loon is the Minnesota stat bird, and under severe threat.

This link will show you a video from a web cam in a raft on Big Mantrap Lake.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemaanum/3592317926/

Today we was Ice Out on Benedict Lake. At 9.00 Am I called up the troops.

We started building the nest on the newly completed raft at 10.00 AM.

Once completed we loaded up.

Note this is the first year of deployment at this site, and so the fabric screen only goes 1' up the canopy, to shield the loon in the head down position. If the canopy is completed the loons enter and leave concluding it is a trap. Once they have used it the next season the canopy is completed.

I then made ready the anchor chains for the raft, and marker/warning buoy. I built snubbers for the fore and aft raft anchor chains, to act as shock absorbers when the raft pulls hard on the chains in the wind. So we loaded up all supplies including three 28 lb naval anchors.

Then I got my boat Tuscan out of the shop with my JD 420 tractor. Then hitched to one of the pickups, and headed for the access on the Benedict River.

We headed up stream and into Benedict lake, and selected the best spot for deployment, and deployed the raft, then the marker buoy and marker line.

We were battling 25 mph wind gusts, so I had to use all the tricks I leaned watching tug boat captains on the River Medway as a boy.

The we headed back to the Benedict River and pulled Tuscan out of the water, and returned, home. Tuscan was put back in the shop with the JD 420, and we cleaned up. It took us in total three and half hours.

I'm especially grateful for all the advice from the members of the Big Mantrap Lake Association responsible for developing their Loon nesting program. Special thanks is due Mr Lyle Laske.

After cleaning up I traveled along the shore to the deployment site in in my Willys Jeep and took this picture.

Now we will have to wait and see if a nesting pair of loons uses the raft.

 

[just-some-guy]

helpin the animals = :thumbsup:

 

[Alex2507]

I thought that thing was bigger ... like a station wagon could drive up the ramp.

 

[GO-NAD!]

That looks great - hope it works! There is a lake about 1.5 clics from my house and we can hear the loons calling very clearly on a calm day. Love it!

Go ahead Monkey-man. I know you're dying to say something...

 

[lsiberian]

I'm glad to see this type of deal. Losing species is not a good thing.

 

[Tomorrow]

Good work, Mark! The helping hand of man can be good in situations like yours.

Or otherwise, too. Twenty years ago, the "wisdom" of the local governing bodies decided to plant carp in our local lake (Devils Lake) to take care of a burgeoning lake aquatic weed problem (primarily introduced, invasive, foreign aquarium plants like elodea), so people could ski and boat with little bother from the lake flora. "We can make this tourist trap even more idyllic!" The plan worked so well, the lake became sterile. Oxygen starving, stinking, toxic algae began record blooming. No longer could anyone find sport species such as bluegill, crappy, bass, or even the migrating salmon. Only the huge, plant eating carp were left. Fortunately, the carp were sterilized, but are very long-lived (20-30 years...no one knows for sure). The large population of native fish died off as there was no plant cover for spawn and fry. The carp had eaten everything in sight. The carp were even seen rolling up to people's lawns after they mowed their grass to find food! Then, of course, the fish predators such as ducks, loons, eagles, osprey, etc. all began disappearing right along with their prey, the fish. The hand of man screwed things up as usual, it seems. Our lovely lake had become a bathtub.

The same group of carp implementors decided they needed to do something else. In time they proposed poisoning the lake (after putting a bounty on carp failed miserably to reduced the carp population). After, they would re-introduce native species (at some cost to local taxpayers, natch.) But a user group came to the rescue and stopped the poisoning plan in its tracks. Fishermen.

We tried something new, this time involving bass fishermen instead of biologists and bureaucrats. Now and every year, the Oregon Bass Organization organizes a Christmas tree collection after Christmas. We get thousands of trees donated to a site near the lake. Fishermen volunteers lash hundreds of trees together and boat-tow these once-festive clumps out into the lake to submerge and act as reefs and nurseries and protection for the fry. The native fish population, once near extinction is slowly, unfortunately achingly so, returning to its once natural status. The carp are still here, but their lifespans are hopefully soon coming to a natural conclusion.

For several years, we had no loon nesting. I missed their night cries. But the birds, too, are slowly returning to Devils Lake.

 

[Tomorrow]

I looked but couldn't find a video of the loons' top-water mating runs. Those of you who are watching the "Life" series on tv, got a good view of the great mating rituals of loons. But I did find a nice audio link to their call. See here and select the loon voice audio link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon

Cool stuff.

 

[lsiberian]

Good work, Mark! The helping hand of man can be good in situations like yours.

Or otherwise, too. Twenty years ago, the "wisdom" of the local governing bodies decided to plant carp in our local lake (Devils Lake) to take care of a burgeoning lake aquatic weed problem (primarily introduced, invasive, foreign aquarium plants like elodea), so people could ski and boat with little bother from the lake flora. "We can make this tourist trap even more idyllic!" The plan worked so well, the lake became sterile. Oxygen starving, stinking, toxic algae began record blooming. No longer could anyone find sport species such as bluegill, crappy, bass, or even the migrating salmon. Only the huge, plant eating carp were left. Fortunately, the carp were sterilized, but are very long-lived (20-30 years...no one knows for sure). The large population of native fish died off as there was no plant cover for spawn and fry. The carp had eaten everything in sight. The carp were even seen rolling up to people's lawns after they mowed their grass to find food! Then, of course, the fish predators such as ducks, loons, eagles, osprey, etc. all began disappearing right along with their prey, the fish. The hand of man screwed things up as usual, it seems. Our lovely lake had become a bathtub.

The same group of carp implementors decided they needed to do something else. In time they proposed poisoning the lake (after putting a bounty on carp failed miserably to reduced the carp population). After, they would re-introduce native species (at some cost to local taxpayers, natch.) But a user group came to the rescue and stopped the poisoning plan in its tracks. Fishermen.

We tried something new, this time involving bass fishermen instead of biologists and bureaucrats. Now and every year, the Oregon Bass Organization organizes a Christmas tree collection after Christmas. We get thousands of trees donated to a site near the lake. Fishermen volunteers lash hundreds of trees together and boat-tow these once-festive clumps out into the lake to submerge and act as reefs and nurseries and protection for the fry. The native fish population, once near extinction is slowly, unfortunately achingly so, returning to its once natural status. The carp are still here, but their lifespans are hopefully soon coming to a natural conclusion.

For several years, we had no loon nesting. I missed their night cries. But the birds, too, are slowly returning to Devils Lake.

Glad to hear they are getting things turned around. Mismanagement has decimated wildlife many times. One example is the cries against elephant population control. Left unchecked they kill everything.

 

[Tomorrow]

I have been reminded by a great Audioholics philosopher (one that's easily confused with a Confusius Monkey) that the "mating behavior of loons" is elegantly reminiscent of something funny....I suggest it closely resembles the behavior of politicians.

As Confusius say...."The firm and the enduring are near to virtue."

 

[Tomorrow]

Speaking of cool birds that need breeding protection...here are a pair of grebes doing their thing on an Oregon lake. They'll run for quite some distance. Neat, eh?!

 

[highfigh]

Or otherwise, too. Twenty years ago, the "wisdom" of the local governing bodies decided to plant carp in our local lake (Devils Lake) to take care of a burgeoning lake aquatic weed problem (primarily introduced, invasive, foreign aquarium plants like elodea), so people could ski and boat with little bother from the lake flora. "We can make this tourist trap even more idyllic!" The plan worked so well, the lake became sterile. Oxygen starving, stinking, toxic algae began record blooming. No longer could anyone find sport species such as bluegill, crappy, bass, or even the migrating salmon. Only the huge, plant eating carp were left. Fortunately, the carp were sterilized, but are very long-lived (20-30 years...no one knows for sure). The large population of native fish died off as there was no plant cover for spawn and fry. The carp had eaten everything in sight. The carp were even seen rolling up to people's lawns after they mowed their grass to find food! Then, of course, the fish predators such as ducks, loons, eagles, osprey, etc. all began disappearing right along with their prey, the fish. The hand of man screwed things up as usual, it seems. Our lovely lake had become a bathtub.

The same group of carp implementors decided they needed to do something else. In time they proposed poisoning the lake (after putting a bounty on carp failed miserably to reduced the carp population). After, they would re-introduce native species (at some cost to local taxpayers, natch.) But a user group came to the rescue and stopped the poisoning plan in its tracks. Fishermen.

We tried something new, this time involving bass fishermen instead of biologists and bureaucrats. Now and every year, the Oregon Bass Organization organizes a Christmas tree collection after Christmas. We get thousands of trees donated to a site near the lake. Fishermen volunteers lash hundreds of trees together and boat-tow these once-festive clumps out into the lake to submerge and act as reefs and nurseries and protection for the fry. The native fish population, once near extinction is slowly, unfortunately achingly so, returning to its once natural status. The carp are still here, but their lifespans are hopefully soon coming to a natural conclusion.

For several years, we had no loon nesting. I missed their night cries. But the birds, too, are slowly returning to Devils Lake.

Devil's Lake, Wisconsin? That scenario sounds about like something that would happen here. I think Madison should control Madison and leave the rest of us alone. We don't refer to it as "47 square miles, surrounded by reality" for nothing.

Hopefully, the die-off won't happen in a short enough time that it becomes a problem in its own right.

 

[Tomorrow]

Devil's Lake, Wisconsin? That scenario sounds about like something that would happen here. I think Madison should control Madison and leave the rest of us alone. We don't refer to it as "47 square miles, surrounded by reality" for nothing.

Hopefully, the die-off won't happen in a short enough time that it becomes a problem in its own right.

No...Devils Lake in Oregon. I believe there are a few Devils Lakes around the country...Wisconsin, North Dakota, Oregon, one of the Carolinas, and perhaps more. Lake "management" is probably a questionable activity in all of them.

 

[TLS Guy]

On the third year of deployment we have a loons nesting in the loon maternity unit, (raft) on Benedict Lake.

Normally we have two nesting pairs of loons on Benedict Lake.

This year we have three. I went out in the boat this afternoon, and we have a pair of loons on the raft, on the north end of the lake. Both mother and farther share shifts on the nest. There are routine changeovers and the eggs are gently turned at that time.

We have a loon on a natural nest where they have a history of successful nesting.

There is another loon on a nest where they have not been known to nest before. Unfortunately this nest is very close to a dock, but so far so good. I spotted this nest about three weeks ago, and this was the first nest occupied this year.

The raft is deployed in an area on the North end of the lake where there have been natural nest, but with a high rate of predation, with only one surviving chick from the North end in about 7 years.

So this year we could get up to six chicks.

 

[Alex2507]

Are loons any good to eat?

 

[majorloser]

Are loons any good to eat?

Not quite as moist as bald eagle.

 

[TLS Guy]

Are loons any good to eat?

If you kill one, you will have to use your silvery tongue before the judge, like you have never used it before.

Since each adult loon eats about 20 lb of fish per day, I leave it to your imagination what their culinary merit might be.

 

[Adam]

Since each adult loon eats about 20 lb of fish per day...

I think that you meant to say two pounds.

 

[TLS Guy]

I think that you meant to say two pounds.

Yes, too early in the morning again!

 

[Alex2507]

I think that you meant to say two pounds.

How do you know? There's no fish for three states around you.
Maybe the loons ate them all and moved.

 

[psbfan9]

Are loons any good to eat?

My dad asked the same question about penguins. I would imagine loons taste similar to a goose.

Some people spend large coin to eat endangered animals. So I sincerely appreciate these conservation efforts by TLSguy and others. The more 'common' these animals become the less of an exotic treat they become.