A Few Loons

UPDATE, 1 July: I received a letter this morning from one of our friends at Lake Groton which alleviates some of my concerns about seeing fewer loons thus far this year. I was a bit concerned that perhaps the population of loons was again dwindling. It turns out that there are a few more loons on the lake than I had counted, plus...

Just this morning (coincidentally, my birthdate), two loons were born on the north end of the lake. These two loon chicks have been named Janice and Janet. 

Since the wildlife at our home in Waterbury has also been slow to appear this spring/summer, I am going to assume that perhaps weather patterns account for the timing of the appearance of summertime wildlife being a bit slow this year around our neck of the woods.

Now, I'll need to see if I can capture a photo of Janice and Janet as mom and dad acquaint them with life.


Original Blog Entry, 29 June: Although the wildlife has been very quiet and elusive this year, I did manage to capture some nice photos on a few rather rare occasions. It certainly helped that I never put down a camera too! Loons are a tough bunch to capture even on a good day but I did manage to get some really nice photos so far this year.

Typically, we can listen to the loons call across the lake through most of the night. This year, however, the calls were sporadic, at best, and were mostly off in the distance. Earlier in our visit to the lake house, I counted four distinct loons calling to each other around the lake. Last year we had more than seven loons on the lake so the lower numbers thus far this year have been a bit disappointing and concerning.

I also noticed that a couple of these loons seemed rather small and young... perhaps adolescents. To be honest, I don't know how to tell the age of a loon but the size of some of these loons seemed to be on the small side.

While we were out on the kayaks with the grandchildren, we had one loon play with us. Lukey and I would follow closely behind our kayak and then this playful loon would disappear underwater whenever we'd turn around to see him. Once I was on my way again, I would hear some quiet splashing behind me again... I'd turn around... and there he was again! This continued for a few hundred yards and I managed to get a few shots of him.

Most of these photos included here were difficult shots though. It was dark... sun was behind the loons... I was lying flat on my stomach on the dock while bugs bit me... and the shots from my kayak are always difficult because the kayak rocks a bit and it rocks even more when Lukey is a passenger with me! 

All that being said, overall, I think I ended up with my best loon shots to date!

This is the loon who kept following behind my kayak as Lukey and I paddled along the lake.