After reading a blurb on Facebook Sunday, in which I’d mentioned I hadn’t been able to find the loon family anywhere in spite of having been out on the lake for two hours on Friday and again Saturday . . . one of my seasonal campers reassured me through e-mail, telling me they’d seen the loon family that very day.
“We watched them for 30 minutes,” she said.
I spent all day Monday at school wishing the day away, wanting to get out on the lake to see the little cutie for myself.
When I finally got home, I rushed through the campground duties, gathered the kayak key and lifejacket and camera. Then I trudged to the point, only to find it was windy.
Very, very windy.
Trees bent in half windy.
But I was determined . . .
I climbed in my kayak and shoved off, quickly discovering that if I hugged the shoreline, you couldn’t feel the wind at all!
I traveled half the lake before I found them.
The Loon Family 2012! I didn’t dare get too close, so the pictures are a little hazy. Baby seems to be doing really well. Both adults were very attentive too. At one point, a crow hollered from overhead and the two of them scooted over, putting the baby between them.
Can you see the minnow in the adult’s mouth? You won’t believe how many of these the baby ate as I watched. Several times, when they dove, the baby would put his head in the water too. But he’s too young to dive yet . . . even if he tried, he’d just bounce back to the surface.
I could’ve watched them forever, but I didn’t want to make them nervous or anything.
So I headed back for home.
I don’t know about you, but I’m awfully glad to see the little one.
I think we should call him Junior.
P.S. There’s a few more photos on our campground blog, including one showing how the baby blends in with the water’s surface . . .
this is great i hope to get braver and take my camera out in my kayak soon to get pics also will share with u if i get some
Yes, keep me posted on what you see!
I always take a little towel with me and I wrap the camera in it when I’m paddling out or in, just to keep the water droplets off it. ;0)
I don’t have it around my neck when entering or exiting the kayak either . . . I place it on the floor of the kayak, wrapped in the towel. This spring, as I was stepping out of my kayak, I stepped on something sharp (a clam shell). Between being startled and the weight of the camera, I became unbalance and fell on my butt in four inches of water. I managed to save the camera, but what a close call!