I have to inform you of some bad news regarding the hatching of the Loon chick. At 6:30 this morning I went to check to see if the Loon chick had hatched. When I arrived the nest was empty. My first thought was one of happiness. I proceed to look for the Loons and the chick. After about 15 minutes of found the adult Loons, but I could not find the chick. I returned to the nest thinking the chick might has still been in the nest area, due to the height of the board in front of the nesting area. Once at the nest area I looked around the entire island and saw no chick.

Where was the chick? Unfortunately as we continued to look in the area for the chick, we found several small feathers. The more we looked the more feathers we found. We can only assume that something, a bird, fish or turtle had taken the chick! A sad ending to 28 hard and hot days of nesting!

I know we all were looking forward to having a chick once again on PRP, but it was not to be. I want to thanks all of you that volunteered for the Loon Watch Program and hope that you’ll do so again next year if they are successful in nesting again. Thanks, Dave