Loons in Early Morning

by Sandra Huston

Title

Loons in Early Morning

Artist

Sandra Huston

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

"Loons in Early Morning" is an original fine art wildlife photograph by Sandra Huston.

This image is # 8 of 12 in a 2018 series of loon photographs captured on Woodbury Pond of our latest addition to Tacoma Lakes. This common loon pair is dutifully protecting their new loon chick born just days ago. I first spotted them in front of our lake shore deck Friday late morning on July 20th after hearing the male’s tremolo call warning the boaters away from its mate and new chick. I just had to take my kayak out and document this newest addition to our pond in Litchfield, Maine. I hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed capturing them.

Honored to be featured in the following Fine Art America and Pixels.com groups:
* Bath and Spa Prints on 7/29/18
* Ladies Club on 8/3/18
* FAA Portraits - Birds on 8/6/18
* Wild Birds of the World on 8/6/18
* Kingdom Animalia on 8/7/18
* New FAA Uploads on 8/16/18
* Your Very Best Photography on 8/19/18
* Premium FAA Artist on 9/4/18
* Birds In Focus on 9/10/18
* 10 Plus on 9/14/18

Loon facts: Common loons are larger than the other loon species. Adults are 28 to 35 inches (70 to 90 centimeters) long with a wingspan of 60 inches (152 cm). Their weight ranges from 3.5 to 17.6 lbs. (1.6 to 8 kilograms). Common loons breed in forested lakes and large ponds found in Greenland, Iceland and northern North America. Wikipedia

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 there 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.

The keywords associated with this photograph include: common loon, (Gavia immer) early morning, serene, loon parent, loon chick, birds, waterfowl, avian, original, fine art photography, loon series, Woodbury Pond, Litchfield, Maine, Sandra Huston, wildlife, wild, nature, animal, blue, green, lake, reflections, Maine Artist, wildlife decor, wall art, home decor, duvet cover, beach towels, shower curtain, tote bags, coffee mugs, greeting cards, Pixels.com.

Uploaded

July 23rd, 2018

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