Needless to re-state that the Loon is one of my most favourite birds anywhere.
With its black dress, speckled by white decorations he/she inhabits the lakes of Northern Ontario.
The eerie call, reaching from one end of a lake to the other, is unmistakable.
Early in the Spring, the male performs his mating dance, which the female sometimes coyly ignores.
I observed them in early May and then found the female ( I assume it was the female) carefully guarding her eggs, turning them around now and then. The male's mating dance obviously was successful.
When the chick is hatched, mother takes it almost immediately for its first swim.
Mom and Dad watch the chick most carefully and Dad presents to it a newly caught small fish, much too large for the baby to swallow it. It vigorously pecks at it and gets a taste of what its major meal will taste like.
I saw this trio one day when I slowly paddled along the northern end of Lake Opeongo. At once I stopped paddling and sat as still as I could. The wind was in my favour and I slowly drifted closer and closer to this threesome. I held my camera at my face, never moving, just letting the wind take me closer and closer. Ultimately I came so close that I could have touched them with my paddle. The parents were well aware of my presence. The baby, however, could neither fly, nor dive nor swim very fast and the parent duo stayed close, always trying to keep their bodies between their baby and me. My camera clicked away and almost got hot with the clicking. Slowly the distance between me and this wonderful family became wider and wider and I am certain that Mr and Mrs Loon were mighty glad when I drifted out of sight.
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