Just like graduation day, baby birds are leaving the nest
A banded loon with two chicks on Limekiln Lake
It was a beautiful week with only one rainy day.
Rain is something those folks out west and north of us in Canada would love to have to wet down the raging forest fires.
The one in Colorado Springs has spread 160,000 acres and has burned 181 homes.
I took a walk this week with Forest Ranger John Scanlon who was on-call to assist with the fires in Quebec.
When we used to go fishing in northern Quebec we would go through large burned out areas.
Those fires effected mostly black spruce and would just work their way around some of the lakes and just keep on going.
The landowners here wishes the government would go in and harvest the standing timber that had been burned.
It looks like the temperatures here are going up into the 90s this week.I saw a few blackflies this week in a couple places.
On the trip with John Scanlon we went into Little Moose Lake at the head of the South Branch of the Moose River and there were a few flies there.
Just yesterday I was checking Loons on Woodhull Lake and I found a good supply of flies there when I was trying to repair a Loon platform.
After not seeing them for a few weeks there were plenty around and enough to share.
There were flies in the air on my hike to Ferd’s Bog, as some of the hikers who went along would attest to.
The flies seemed to like them more than me.
During the hike we saw a pair of Gray Jays that were checking us out, a pair of Lincoln Sparrows taking food to young at the end of the boardwalk, a calling Olivesided Flycatcher that came close while I was calling for a Barred Owl, and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher that kept calling but never came into view.
A Barred Owl answered my calls several times but remained out of sight.
One white-fringed orchid and a few rose begonias were in bloom, nearly a couple weeks early.
One remaining white lady’s slipper was still in bloom.
Yesterday (6/17) I had 21 people on my Father’s Day tramp around in the mud at the Remsen Bog.
They were well rewarded as the showy lady’s slipper, rose begonias, grass pinks and five Lossel’s twayblades all showed us their colors.
People were in awe of these beautiful flowers and many photos were taken.
Our three baby Robins fledged yesterday, although Karen said she had only seen feathers on them one day.
I guess they had more feathers than she thought.
It only takes about fourteen days from hatching and then they are out and about.
This is true for most small birds. If they hang around the nest site much longer than that predators would certainly find their nest.
The parents, as it is, carry away the fecal sac every time they leave the nest to keep the spot a secret.
Bigger birds, like Herons, hawks and eagles, stay in the nest much longer and poop over the side of the nest.
But many of these nests are high in trees or on islands where most predators don’t get to them.
I have seen where Black Bears have gone into a Great Blue Heron rookery and cleaned out all the nests.
They did this in the rookery on the backside of Ferd’s Bog one time and the adults never tried to nest in that spot again.
Swimming water birds, like ducks, geese and Loons, take their young from the nest on the first day and they are swimming from then on.
It takes them a few weeks before they can fly depending on the size of the birds. It takes bigger birds longer than smaller birds. It is 12 to 14 weeks before Loons can fly.
We had a family of 12 baby Mallard ducks on the pond for over a week, but their mother must have taken them over land or down the small brook to another spot as they are now gone. Unlike their parents, Baby Loons can walk on land—just like ducks—up until they are about three weeks old.
Sometimes Loons are born on one lake, then their parents move to a nearby lake and call them over land to the new lake.
They normally move to a bigger lake with more fish for them to eat.
This was actually tried by the Loons on Twin Pond a couple of times but they stopped nesting there when it didn’t work for them.
Many land birds, such as grouse and turkeys, take their young right out from the nest and travel through the woods feeding them as they go.
These little guys hide when mom tells them danger is near.
By the end of their first week they have the ability to fly up in to the trees to get away from predators.
If you happen to come across a family of these birds when you’re out in the woods, the mom will act like she has a broken wing to lure you away from her young.
I saw it happen myself several times this week with both grouse and a woodcock.
Loon babies are popping out all over, but that’s another story.
See ya.
