Baby Loon Rescue

One of the really great things about living at the lake is being able to watch the abundance of wildlife in the area. We are particularly fond of the Common Loons that nest here. We have a pretty good sized swamp on the back part of our property, big enough that most years the loons nest back there. The only problem with that is that there’s no water connection(channel?) to the lake so when the baby loons are big enough to go out on the lake they first have to navigate across some dry land to get there. A few years ago we happened to be out for our walk when one of the parents was leading the baby across the neighbor’s yard on the way to the lake. Since that time we’ve kept a watch for the annual trek to the water. Occasionally, when they’ve had two babies, one of them will get left behind and has to try to make the journey on its own. Even if it makes it to the lake it still has to try to locate the parents and the other chick. We’ve been lucky enough to help the straggler a couple of times.

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Photos and captions courtesy of Jim Lease