Little Loons

We just spent a couple of days on Booth Lake, in the southeast corner of Algonquin Provincial Park.   As we paddled and hiked into the lake, we realized we have been going to Algonquin every summer for the past 25 years.    Never have we had such amazing experiences watching loon behaviour.

On our way into Booth Lake we found a baby loon and its parents.

Though the baby loon was occasionally diving under the water, mostly it just bobbed around on top waiting for its parents to feed it little fish and leeches.

We were quite struck by the helplessness of the little creature, floating around out there in the middle of a large lake. But its parents were taking really good care of it, sticking close and constantly calling in low hoots.   That evening we went out looking for the little loon again, but instead found these characters:

A group of adult loons was floating around near the shore, gathering for the night. Your guess is as good as mine as to what they were doing here.

On the way out of the park we found a family with two babies and had a great time watching them. The babies just followed the parents around peeping for food, and taking turns peering down into the water to see what’s there.



The highlight was watching one of the babies climb onto its parent’s back, and settle in. Toooo cute!

Thanks for visiting my blog- I am just beyond excited after having spent time watching these beautiful birds from the bottom of our canoe.

19 Comments:

  1. What great pictures! The little ones looked a little spastic at times. Especially the last couple of pictures.

  2. These are amazing shots Leslie! We just returned from Head Lake in the Kawartha’s and there was a loon family on the Lake as well. Didn’t capture the shots you did of course but watching the adults feed and care for the baby was fascinating. Head Lake must have boating restrictions as only small fishing boats or rowing was all I witnessed. So Loons would definitely hang around. Great shots! (as always…I am envious!)

    • Hi! So glad you got to see some of this amazing behaviour as well. We felt so lucky to be able to watch the families in action.

  3. Superb photography as usual

  4. Hi Leslie
    Great pics!!
    We had a similar experience at Bull Lake (just east of Kaladar) last year

    https://1drv.ms/f/s!AqV0V0nhuusmvXUHwZYRbFsZunHB

    m.

  5. Fantastic pictures thank you

  6. Best pictures of loons I have ever seen! We have loons at our cottage but have had trouble taking sharp pictures of them and their surroundings because of the adults markings.

    • Thanks Katie! It is tricky for sure to get photos of anything black out in the wild. I have to allow for a lot more light in the photos than one would logically think was needed, given the bright sunny surroundings. I turn my ISO way up!

  7. Thank you Leslie for sharing you wonderful photos! If only for a brief moment, it brought back some memorable times when I too, enjoyed the loons company.

  8. Donna Beeler-Dingle

    Fabulous photos!

  9. Fantastic photos, Leslie! You really have a gift for capturing our winged friends. Thanks for sharing.

  10. Also the best photos I have ever seen. Cannot imagine the thrill of actually witnessing.

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