We took our first kayak trip on Eagle Lake today and it was quite memorable. It started out interesting when there was a swimming snake at the launch ramp. I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to get a photo to identify it before it swam away though. We paddled under the Rt. 74 bridge with its swallow nests galore, and headed towards the beach at the eastern shore of the lake. As we got closer, we realized there were already people there (pretty much the only other people on the entire lake). Fate was with us and we stopped for lunch at the rocky beach cove on Charles Island. As we approached the shallow water, Dave motioned me over to look at something that he insisted was a big egg. I told him it was a rock, so he got out of the kayak and reached down into three of water to pick it up. Boy, did he prove me wrong!
Later I looked it up, and just as we thought, it was a loon egg. It was cracked and very waterlogged. Either the bald eagle that we saw soar overhead had grabbed it and then dropped it in the lake, or a boat wake washed it off the nest. Loons make their nests right at the water's edge. I even read that sometimes they accidently knock them into the water when leaving the nest when a predator is near by. We saw how this could happen when we were paddling close to shore on our way back and came upon a loon in a nest (we also saw two others while having our picnic lunch, so the loons are thriving). It crouched way down to try and hide itself so we stayed far away to take some zoomed photos, then moved on so as not to disturb it. This posture is called "hang-over".
Maybe next time we kayak the lake we will see the loons with their babies on their backs. This certainly was another great day on the water!
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