I've been watching the pair of Pacific Loons at the outflow, ever since we first saw them in early July. It has become a part of our daily ritual to drive out and see what has been happening out there. And not just the Pacific Loons, but they are so accessible and slightly exotic for us. I've been anxiously awaiting the chicks hatch.
I may be waiting a long time.
I'm not sure what has happened with the nest, but I suspect there has been at least a partial failure. For now, past when I expected there would be chicks, one loon is still sitting. And a check reveals there is but a single egg.
We first saw the pair of Pacific Loons on the 2nd of July, and the nest was established on the 5th of July. By the 7th, there were clearly two eggs in the nest.
From what I could learn online Red-throated Loons, a very similar species, have incubation periods of 24 to 31 days, with an average of 28 days. The eggs should have hatched by now, and yet we've yet to see a chick, and the pair is still on the nest. Now I say the pair but in the last few trips we've only seen one bird. That isn't that unusual a situation as often there is only one there, while the other forages, and we haven't lingered there long to see if the other is returning.
Yesterday I took a closer look, crawling on my belly, to take some closer shots of the bird. When I was ready to leave I quickly had a look at the nest. There is one egg in the nest.
What this means I'm not sure. I imagine there are several different possibilities and I don't have the experience or knowledge to know which is most likely. One of the eggs could have been predated. Or it could have hatched, but again I've seen no sign of a chick. That may explain the absence of the other parent (if indeed it is absent). It may be away with the hatched chick. But we have yet to see them, and the Red-throated Loon families have been easy to spot with only a modicum of searching.
The remaining egg I'm assuming is dead, or infertile. Which is sad. As far as I know this is the most northernly breeding record for this species, it would have been nice if it had been successful. But perhaps the incubation times are a little out of the norm. But perhaps.
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I hope the second egg hatches too! Maybe if it’s the most northerly breeding of that species, then that could explain either a failure to hatch and/or be delayed (for the remaining egg). Who knows?
Seems awful far east too for Pacific Loon, awesome sighting, even if it is a failure!
She’s still sitting on it Melodie. I’m guessing that the only hope of it hatching if it is a second clutch after they lost the first one. While many birds do that I have no idea if loons do. I suspect not.
I believe their range coves pretty much all of the arctic Will, just not quite this far north. They also nest in the boreal. I watch a pair every year I was at Fort Providence that nested in a borrow pit.