Common Loon

Photo by Stan Tekiela

by Stan Tekiela
© NatureSmart

August 3, 2014

7-5-12

I've been spending a lot of time with loons this spring and early summer. Logging countless hours on my boat photographing loons is not uncommon for me, but this year has been a banner year. I have had nearly 20 photographers join me for either a half or full day on the water photographing loons. Some of these photographers have spent as many as 3 full days with me capturing so many wonderful image. It is all part of my new loon photo tour.

Each day starts before sunrise. In fact I am usually launching my custom loon curser boat at least 30 minutes before sunrise each day. It is important to capture the pre-dawn light when the eastern sky turns bright orange. In order to capture a wide variety of images you need a wide variety of sky and lighting conditions.

Images of adult loons are wonderful but capturing images of the adults with the babies is even better. By the way, there are no better parents in the bird world than loons. Over the past 30 years I have watched countless adult loons caring for their chicks. I am continually impressed at their deep level of caring and patients they have with their babies.

Baby loons are swimming with their parents within 24 hours of hatching. The adults are massive in comparison to the newly hatched chicks. Yet despite their large size, the parents catch the tiniest of fish and insects to feed to their chicks. The adults pop to the surface with the tiniest of fish and swim over to the chick. They reach forward to pass the morsel and invariably the chick drops the tiny fish. The ever-watching parents grabs the tiny fish back out of the water and offers it again to the chick. Once again the chick drops it. This can go on for up to 6 or 8 attempts before the chick is able to swallow the meal.

Feeding sessions goes on for a while. However it doesn't take long before the chicks have bulging bellies and they need to rest. A parent will raise a wing and the baby loon struggle to climb up on the back of the adult. Sometimes the chick stops under the wing and falls asleep. When this happens you can't see the chick. Other times the baby will poke its head out and then fall asleep. Or they just sit there and look around as the parents swims.

This year for the first time, I saw a chick who would constantly pull on a single feather on the mothers back. Over and over again the chick would pull on this single feather to the point the feather was sticking straight up. The parent didn't seem to mind and didn't even look back to see what was going on. No doubt she could feel the chick pulling on the feather. She just didn't seem to mind.

Both parents will fed the chicks and both allow the chicks to ride on their backs. They often take turns caring for the chicks while one adult swims off to hunt for itself or perhaps go for a fly around the lake to stretch its wings. And always, the returning adult brings in a fish for the chicks. This usually starts a whole new feeding session.

In the evening the adults will spend extra time catching food for the chicks. The lakes I am photographing on are so clear that I can see the adults swimming underwater. It is amazing how fast they can swim underwater. Like a lightning bolt under water they zip around snatching up fish no larger than your fingernail. Sometimes I am so distracted by watching them swimming underwater that I loose track of where the chicks.

After stuffing as many fish in their chicks as they will eat at the end of the day. The chicks will climb onto the parents backs and the entire family swims off into the open water to spend the night. They want to get away from the shore where all the land predators lurk. The still need to keep a watchful eye to the sky for bald eagles which like to snatch up baby loons to eat.

Next spring I plan on expanding my available days for the loon photo tour. If you're interested in joining me, stop by my web page for more info. Until next time...

Stan Tekiela is an author/naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and www.twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com