July 4th Weekend: Loons

Small Lake, Lots of Loons

Report from July 9, 2024

We have a spot on a small lake with many loons. It’s not your typical loon lake. Most of the shoreline has cabins and there are no islands or stands of lake grasses but there are plenty of small fish and I suppose that’s why 7 loons consisently inhabit this body of water. It’s also a perfect lake to view the loons in my kayak.

Of the 7 loons only one pair nested and they have 2 little ones. Of the other 5 there appear to be 2 paired up and 1 individual who wanders alone around the lake. One thing I noticed over 3 early mornings observing these loons is that each morning 2 other loons fly in, I’m assuming to feed. Each morning at about 7am the loons without young ones all gather together and appear to interact with one another. This meeting of the loon minds lasts about 10 minutes then the group disperses in 3 pairs and one individual to go about feeding.

The pair with loonlets stays away from these other loons constantly hunting and feeding the little guys who are now not so little.

Each morning was cool and fog of various densities covered the water until about 7:30am. I took the time to hammer the shutter on my camera to get the images you can see below. One thing I find challenging about photography from a kayak is wave action effects my photography and on each of these morning the lake was calm! Holy cow in the year of windy I got lucky! I also like the fact that the loons are good with the kayak and they will actually swim up to me just to say hello I think. This welcoming gives me a chance to get some great views at the broodless loons.

One more word about the kayak. Kayaks are cheap and very transportable. Get yourself in a kayak, it’s fun!

July 4th Loons

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