July 18, 2010 - Baby Loon

This year we again had a pair of Common Loons nesting on our lake in northern Minnesota. Last week the eggs hatched and we now have a baby Loon. I was on the lake Friday morning and one of the Loons was still sitting on the nest. I looked out again around dinner time and both adults were off the nest. I thought I could see a baby swimming near the adults so Diana and I went out in our pontoon and confirmed that the baby was there. The Loons had two eggs but we are not sure what happened to the second egg.

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Here are both adults with the baby. They actually made two attempts at nesting this year. Because of our early spring, their first set of eggs was due to hatch around June 10-12. I got to the lake on the 10th and both adults were off the nest, no eggs were seen, and there were no babies. We’ll never know what happened, but the loons laid two more eggs that weekend and started incubating again.

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And here’s a close-up of the baby by itself.

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Adult Loons are very protective of their little ones. Just the other day, I saw a Bald Eagle swooping down several times trying to snatch the baby. Each time, the adult Loons sheltered the baby and drove the Eagle off.

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You may have heard that Loons are very powerful swimmers but extremely awkward on land. Their legs are positioned very far back on their bodies. While this gives them a real advantage when swimming, it makes them so unbalanced when they are out of the water that they are virtually unable to walk. In this photo you can see the baby’s legs right at the back of its body.

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The Common Loon is the state bird of Minnesota. We have more Loons than any state except Alaska. The last estimate I heard was 12,000 adult birds.

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This is the smaller of the two adults. We aren’t sure, of course, but we think this is the female. Note the variety of colors in the feathers on the head and neck. Depending on the angle of the sun hitting them, these feathers can look blue, green, or black.

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Here’s one of the Loons stretching its wings.

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