1loons
These photos of two day old chicks were taken on the Quabbin on July 15th of this year. Dad is a return from last year and mom is a new mate. On my end of the Quabbin there are two sets of loons that are boat friendly and there are a couple of pair that are not so friendly. This pair is one of the friendly ones and they had no problem at all letting me get close enough to photograph them. At one point both mom and dad dove into the water to search for food leaving the two little chicks all alone about 20 feet from my boat.
There are two distinct signs that loons will do if you are getting to close to them. One is that they will expel air from between it's feathers causing it to sink further into the water actually trying to hide itself from you. The other is if you are getting to close to a nesting pair or a pair with chicks might give out a "Tremolo" alarm call that sounds like crazy laughter. If the loon is very agitated it may rear up and thrash about in the water. I have experienced the alarm call and the thrashing when another loon was getting to close to a pair of adult loons with chicks.
Over the last three years I have spent countless hours photographing loons or just sitting and watching them. I have not once put the safety of the loons in jeopardy just to get a photo. If they do not want me around I leave. With this pair I spend about 4 hours with them and a total of around three thousand images and several minutes of video as well. My images are numbered and I have not deleted any of them. If one was to take the time to look at all of them one would not find one image where the pair of loons was upset with me being there.
Photos were taken with a Canon 50D digital SLR with a 160 to 640mm Lens.
Enjoy!!
For more loon info go to www.loon.org
These people have been watching loons for over 30 years.
