Loon Piggy Back

by Sandra Huston

Title

Loon Piggy Back

Artist

Sandra Huston

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Loon Piggy Back is an original fine art wildlife photograph by Sandra Huston.

Honored to be featured in the following Fine Art America and Pixels.com groups:
* Animal Photographs on 9/2/20
* Just Perfect on 9/2/20
* FAA Portraits - Birds on 9/2/20
* Maine Fine Art Photography on 9/2/20
* Fine Art America Professionals on 9/2/20
* Wild Birds of the World on 9/7/20
* 10 Plus on 9/8/20
* New England Photographs on 9/11/20
* Mind-Blowing Photography on 9/13/20
* Birds In Focus on 9/26/20

I photographed this loon parent and chick last July while kayaking Woodbury Pond and wanted to share this precious moment. This little one is the beginning of one of our most beloved North America birds, the Maine Common Loon.

The first few weeks of a loon chick’s life is very precarious; the loon parents have to be on the constant look out for eagles and osprey flying overhead also snapping turtles and large-mouth bass below the water that prey on new loon chicks. That is why you will sometimes see day old chicks on their parents back or under their wings as that is the warmest and safest place to be until they are 2 weeks old. It’s amazing that it only takes few days and baby chicks can swim and dive on their own. Both loon parents will feed their chick small fish, crayfish and leeches until it can catch its own meal at about 8 weeks old. Loon chicks begin to learn how to fly when they are about 10 to 12 weeks old. They will now be almost as large as the parents but will have grayish brown plumage. Juvenile loon chicks will not develop the beautiful black and white breeding plumage until they reach 3 years old and are mature enough to breed. Once the ice begins to freeze here in the north the loons will migrate and winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, Iceland and Europe. The adult loons will not return to fresh water until spring when the ice has thawed and they are ready to breed once again.

My photograph of a common loon and chick includes the following keywords to describe the category with which it is displayed in; common loon, (Gavia immer) loons, loon chick, resting, birds, waterfowl, avian, wildlife, wild, nature, animal, lake, beautiful reflections, serene, relaxing, kayaking, original, photography, Woodbury Pond, Litchfield, Maine, Sandra Huston, wildlife decor, wall art, home decor, Pixels.com.

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September 1st, 2020

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