What I do for Love

I love my Loons. Anytime I get to see them is a miraculous and heartwarming moment for me. On the lake adjacent to ours, their nesting is usually successful. I headed out early this morning on my kayak in search of the newly hatched baby. Hubby scanned the lake with his binoculars and they weren't near the boat launch - I was going to have to kayak across 300 acres to find them.

I should my mention my allergies were bad. I had put eyedrops in one of my eyes and for some reason the sun was scorching and blinding that eye. Still, I paddled on.

A boat cruised by (violating the no wake rule before 11:00 am) and sent my kayak rolling as I desperately hung on to my camera and silently cursed that boater. No loons yet.

I'm halfway across the lake and all of a sudden I feel nauseous. Now I'm blind,tired and sick! Still I paddled on. No sounds of the Loons yet.

I make it all the way to the end of the lake, constantly scanning the shore - no Loons and I feel like I have to throw up. Another cruising boat (VIOLATOR!) goes by and I am ready to shake my fist at the sky. I decide to paddle back, today was not my day.

Halfway back across the lake, I stop because I think I'm going to be sick. And then all of a sudden, this welcome sight pops 2 feet in front of my kayak.



It's the mama Loon. The lighting was not good for me to get this shot of her, but I was so happy to see her. The father and baby were no where in sight, but it didn't matter. This was good enough.



I sat still in my kayak and watched her as she peered into the water looking at fish. I was still blind and nauseous but was able to tough it out.


I started paddling the rest of the way back and she was headed off her own way. I was happy. (Sick, nauseous, tired and thinking of ways I could ticket those boaters...but still happy.)


I get back to shore where hubby is waiting for me. The first thing he says is "As soon as you left, the father and baby swam by." "Of course," I said, "of course."

It starts with a dream...

The Loons are my favorite bird. Many of you know this (and suffer through this, ha!) Last year our lake had a nest failure and I was devastated. I had to satisfy myself with monitoring the Loons on a neighboring lake. Well it looks like I have a pair of Loons attempting to nest on our lake again....

(This is a photo from a few years back, I love to look at it and dream.)



By the way, as I was watching these Loons and watched them go ashore for a brief moment. It occured to me they only go ashore for two things....to nest and to....well you know......








... and yes, I know I'm terrible!!!

I Love Loons

My Loon pair still visit our lake but alas they did not attempt to nest again. Their night music is beautiful....I cannot think of a more beautiful sound to hear at the cabin when I am headed to sleep. (I've posted a video link I found on You Tube below so you can hear them.)

Loon Fever

How many photos can I snap of Loons? Not enough in my case! To me, they are such interesting and complex birds. I am fascinated by their behaviors and of course love their haunting calls across the lake. Here are some of the many faces of the Loon....


An alert Loon....





A sleepy Loon.....







A messy Loon....








A curious Loon! (When the female sees me on my dock, she actually swims toward me and hangs around in front of our cabin. The male is more cautious. I am careful to give them their space and am hopeful that they will try to nest again.)

Surprises at the Log Cabin

If we are strong, and have faith in life and its richness of surprises, and hold the rudder steadily in our hands. I am sure we will sail into quiet and pleasant waters for our old age.
-Freya Stark

First surprise - seeing a fox for the 1st time in my life. She had a few kits with her too. We definitely locked eyes through my cabin window. I bet she could see me smiling....







2nd surprise was having baby Robins hatch in the eaves of our log cabin. Anytime I made a sound on the deck, 3 little heads would pop up looking for food.







And my best surprise........was my Loons coming back to our lake. I believe they are going to try to nest again. And I'm going to do whatever is in my power to help them. I am looking into getting an artificial nesting raft for my Loons as well as buoys to protect them. More on that later......but can you hear my heart singing once again? :-)

What happens when a Loon sees an Eagle......

Loons will give a yodel or tremolo call when they feel threatened. They will also rise up out of the water, possibly row across the water too while doing a penguin dance. If you see a Loon do this and there is no other danger around, then it means YOU are too close and need to back off. These particular photos I shot from a distance as an eagle flew overhead. Eagles are a big predator of Loon chicks.

P.S. Some fantastic news, the Loons are building a nest right at the end of my dock at the log cabin. It's on a grassy tuft that is about 5 feet away from shore. I never could have dreamed that something this spectacular would happen to me! (By the way, our log cabin is named "The Loons' Nest" - ironic, eh?

Look what I found!

I'm in Loon heaven right now! I'll be posting more photos when I return from the cabin tomorrow. Looking forward to catching up with all of you. The Loon Lady is back!!!

You know what spring time means.....right?

Spring time means my Loons are coming back soon!

I can't wait to hear their haunting cry across the lake.
I can't wait to see them run across the lake faster than a jet plane on a runway.
I can't wait until they sit on their nest again.
I can't wait till they have babies and I start stressing out and yelling at every boater to watch out.

Loon Family

I have to forewarn you - these are not my best Loon photos. But getting the best shots was not my purpose on this day. I just wanted to experience seeing the Loon family without disturbing them. Loons are highly sensitive during nesting season and with newly hatched Loon chicks. I shot these from a distance in my Kayak with my 300mm lens and severely cropped these photos. When the loon chick is older and more independent, I hope to get better and slightly closer shots.



The parents swim tightly together keeping the baby between them.







The parents keep a constant look out for danger to their loon chick. Predators include Eagles, turtles and even a large Pike fish.









The loon chick is brownish in color right now and very fuzzy. The parents will be teaching him how to do deeper dives and how to fish for himself. For now, mom and dad takes turns feeding him small fish.








The whole world awaits you little one....

Bird Humor

I'm headed to the cabin this weekend and participating in a craft show on Saturday (in downtown Gaylord, MI in case you're in the area!!) I thought I would leave you with some bird humor! I'll catch up with all of you on Monday.

Burkett's laws of birding

*The First Law of Birding: The greater the time spent searching for a rarity, the greater the chances it will be sitting on your car when you return to the parking lot.

*The Second Law of Birding: There are two sides of a tree; the side facing you and the side where the bird is.

*The Third Law of Birding: When you see the bird that you have always wanted to see, it will be in the last spot you thought of looking for it.

*The Fourth Law of Birding: The best bird seen during a trip is usually seen in bad light, isn't calling or singing, is seen for less than a second, and is the last "trip bird".
-- by Cody Burkett, Phoenix, AZ

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You just might be a bird lover and squirrel hater if... (#6)
1. You always wait for all of the birds to fly away before running outside and chasing squirrels from under your bird feeders.
2. Sometimes you forget to put on your slacks before running outside and chasing squirrels from your feeders.
3. You chase squirrels from your feeders by standing at your open patio door and barking loudly at them.
4. Squirrels run away when you bark at them but the birds at your feeders have learned to ignore the barking.
5. Your neighbor asks how you trained your dog to scare the squirrels away from your feeders by barking loudly at them from the patio door and you don't have a dog.
6. You chase squirrels from your feeders by running through the yard, yelling wildly, and squirting them with the water pistol you bought for your grandson's birthday next month.
7. You decide to keep the water pistol you bought for your grandson's birthday and get him another gift because squirting squirrels is both effective in chasing them away from your feeders and a whole lot of fun.
8. The birds in your backyard have become so accustomed to seeing you chase squirrels that they no longer bother to fly to nearby trees.
9. When running after squirrels and squirting them with your water pistol, you never notice you've forgotten to put on your slacks until you're in the far back corner of your yard.
10. It's laugh-out-loud funny to see a squirrel running away from the feeders and falling head-over-heels over the bird water dish that you placed in the grass between the feeders and the tree.

--- from Anita Riechers, retired pre-birder from the greater St. Louis area

Sleepy Loon (and some Loon videos!)

"I'm getting very sleepy....."




Zzzzzz!!



I wanted to share a few Loon videos with you. This first one shows a nesting Loon, if you watch closely, you'll see the loon chick come out from underneath its mother's wing.




And here's a "Loon Concert" for your listening enjoyment.


And now my Loon week has truly ended! I need to start paying attention to my other birds as well. Bob the Mourning Dove is getting cranky! (P.S. His baby is doing well! I'll try to get photos this week.)

Loon Togetherness (and a Loon Poem!)

Loon week is almost coming to an end (sadly - but you know I'm going to post 10,000 more Loon photos before the summer is over - ha!)

I wanted to share a Loon poem with you that my good friend Michele wrote for me. She is such a talented poet, please visit her HERE and read this special poem first. This will set the "Loon mood."

One thing that always touches my heart about the Loons is the tender relationship that the male and female Loon have with each other. They are always together, always looking out for each other.


I love how they constantly swim so close to one another....






When one of them is fishing, the other one keeps an eye out for danger.





And they enjoy relaxing together, thinking about all the fish they are going to catch and how they are going to protect their Loon chicks once they are hatched. It's true Loon love!

Male Model Loon

The male and female Loon have the same feather colors but you can tell them apart by the following:

• The male's body is larger than the female
• The males beak is longer
• If you see/hear the Loon yodeling, then it's the male since they are the only ones who do that particular call. It's their territorial call.

Please take a look at my male model...

Isn't he just gorgeous with that sunlight dancing off that long beak?

The Loon's Morning Stretch

It's Loon week on my blog! (I promise not to post all 185 photos! Ha!) I'm hoping I will be able to show you through my photos why I have such passion for these birds.

If you would like to hear some of the Loon's different calls - click HERE. Once you are on this page, you have several different loon calls to choose from. My favorite is the 'Wail'- I typically hear it in the early evening on our lake. Which call is your favorite?

Look what I found this morning...

After kayaking my arms to exhaustion all over a 230 acre lake and trying to follow the loons' call to see where they were located, I finally found my beloved loon pair pictured above. Now who's going to tow me back to shore? :-)

*I headed to the local coffee shop and took advantage of their WIFI. I just couldn't wait until Tuesday to post this. I took over 185 photos and I will probably take more. I may have to make this Shelley's Loon Week!

Juvenile Common Loon

This photo was taken last summer while I was fishing with my husband. This juvenile Loon popped up next to us in the boat and then it occured to me he was chasing the fish that was chasing our bait. I'm headed to the cabin and hoping that the Loons will begin nesting soon. There is an artifical Loon raft that was made by one of the Loon Rangers to help a Loon pair along. I believe they have been successful the last 9 summers. Here's to another successful summer!

They're back!

This morning I was not disappointed. The lighting wasn't good, the photo subject was far away, the new lens wasn't working correctly.....but it didn't matter. My loons are back! Watching the pair swim across the lake brought tears of joy to my eyes.




P.S. Some of you have asked about my Sigma Lens. I took it out for a test drive this morning and discovered something was seriously wrong. I contacted customer service so we'll see what happens. Needless to say I was VERY UPSET! But life goes on...

Bird Things To Ponder

I am headed up to the log cabin tomorrow morning and here are the bird things I'm pondering:

1. Have my loons returned? Did they miss me?
2. Will the loons have another social hour like I witnessed above?
3. Will there be a Wood Duck in my nest box? Or will I find another Red Winged Blackbird I have to evict?
4. Will the Pileated Woodpecker ever give me more than 2 seconds to take a photo of him?
5. Will the Chickadees keep eating out of my hand? Or will they decide they like my husband more? (They land on him within seconds of him standing out there!)
6. Will I ever see an owl?
7. Will a Rose breasted Grosbeak eat out of my hand so I can trump Dave at Dave's Birdwatching blog?
8. Do the neighbors think I'm crazy as they see me talking to the birds? (I know the answer to that question!)
9. Will I be able to master my new camera lens? Or will I drop it in the water when I'm kayaking this summer?
10. And finally, will National Geographic ever call me?

Michigan Audubon Conference & Worried about Loons

My beloved Loon parents on Big Bradford Lake in Waters, Michigan.

I'm back from the Michigan Audubon Conference and have had time to think about what I experienced and learned this past weekend. I spoke about Birding & Blogging and reviewed how to set up a blog, blogger etiquette and how blogging can help the birds. All my attendees filled out review forms on me (hopefully no one wrote "thinks she's funny but she's not!") and I was told I got high marks so I was very appreciative!

2nd thing - after attending a presentation on Loons, I am even more worried about their future. Added to the list of loss of habitat affecting these poor Loons, now they have to contend with Avian botulism which is occuring in our Great Lakes. In 2007 - botulism killed an estimated 7,500 migrating and native bird population including many Loons. The theory is that botulism occurs when the zebra mussels filter the water allowing more light to grow cladaphora algae which increases the outbreaks. The birds are affected by eating these infected fish and mussels.

Loons only have 2 loon chicks per year - they are lucky if one survives. Can you imagine the devastation that Botulism could have on our Loon population? I left the conference thinking I need to do more. There are so many opportunities we bird and nature bloggers have to get the message out there - share and exchange information - and help the creatures we care so much about.

Some of my favorites - Part III

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love the Loons best!
I love their haunting call, the way their chicks ride on their back and admire what good parents they are. And have you ever seen such beautiful black and white patterns in feathers such as theirs?