David Brislance of Lutsen had an interesting loon encounter last week while paddling a Gunflint Trail lake with a friend. He saw this loon apparently disposing of a broken egg, diving to bury it.
David Brislance of Lutsen had an interesting loon encounter last week while paddling a Gunflint Trail lake to photograph the stately State Bird.
Brislance, a retired educator and wildlife photographer, said he and his friend Paul took a canoe across a lake to an island to check on a site that had been used as a loon nesting spot in the past. They knew a dead spruce had fallen in the exact spot of the nest, causing them to abandon the site, but wanted to see if the loons were nearby.
Brislance said on the way to the island he and Paul saw two loons in the middle of the lake. “As we moved closer to the first island, the two loons followed us and swam by and under the canoe. The female swam toward the shore, softly calling to us.
“We stopped and watched her approach the shoreline. Paul looked at the shore with his binoculars and said it looked like a nest with an odd shaped egg in it. As we watched her, we noticed that the egg was broken and she grabbed it in her bill and swam by our canoe, out in deeper water, dove and buried her egg.
“I thought I could see a sadness in her eye as she passed by the canoe. We wondered why she didn’t do this earlier when we weren’t around, as it was quite a spectacle to behold,” said Brislance.
The men paddled to the second island where the original nesting site had been. They tore out the dead spruce that was blocking the old site. “Now with a clean site, hopefully the pair will return next spring to the original location,” said Brislance.
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