Crazy Loon Behaviors

That was crazy!

I’ve witnessed some crazy loon behavior, pun intended. And in my experience the best time to experience the crazy is in May and June. My guess is it’s because Mid-May thru June is mating and nesting season.

I wish I had photos of some of these behaviors I’ve witnessed but I’m hoping a written description will suffice. So off my memory here are a few nutty, notice I didn’t say loony, things I’ve seen loons do.

Never forget it. This loon had loonlets, I didn’t make that up. This loon was feeding baby loons in an open area of a large cattail field in the middle of the lake when the intruder, a red-necked grebe, approached too close. I’d say 100 feet. The adult loon got out of the water as fast as I’ve ever seen and flew straight up, only to come straight down on the grebe. If the grebe hadn’t scedaddeled under water quickly it would have been toast. Wish I had grabbed the camera.

In another instance I watched a loon try to choke down a pike that had to be 20 inches long.

Many times I’ve had loons chase a fishing lure right to the boat, scares the heck out of a guy.

I’ve had loons for no particular reason hang around my canoe going back and forth under the canoe in the middle of a large lake. This has happened numerous times. I’ve also had them pop up right by the boat when the bird was previously at least 100 yards away.

Then there’s the penguin dances. Watching this is more than fun. Commonly interpreted as an aggressive form of defending a territory or perceived intruders I’ve witnessed groups of loons dancing amongst themselves in April and May. My guess is these are males attemtping to create a pecking order.

If you love loons just watch them. You never really know what you’re going to see.