On Friday, June 13, the pair of loons at Howard Hanson Dam Reservoir
hatched two chicks! As expected, the chicks were hitching a ride on
the parent's back, and occasionally sallying out on their own,
swimming within a couple of feet of the parents. This is the first
successful hatching at HHD, though eggs have been laid each of the
past four years. Bald eagles and/or river otters have predated the
eggs each year, except for one year when one of the loons kicked the
egg out of the nest. The loons have either grown as parents, or the
eagles/otters are not as persistent this year; or the eggs were
better concealed--or, all of the above. The loons nested (as usual)
on an old log boom, at a point where some sedges and shrubs have
found a foothold. Pretty cool...hopefully this is the start of many
successful years of loon nesting at HHD.

Ken Brunner
e:mail--kenneth.r.brunner at nps.usace.army.mil