Photo Courtesy of Ano Lobb
Be afraid. Be very afraid–but only if you’re a fish. Those fierce red eyes belie the gentle, shy nature of the loon. They are great swimmers and divers, but often have to take off into the wind to get enough lift to fly. They’re not crazy about land, either; though they build their nests there. This one, the common loon, inhabits the lakes of the northeastern US and Canada. There is also a Pacific loon that lives in Alaska and Russia.
They make a distinctive warbley call that you can hear across the lakes in Canada on those seemingly endless summer evenings that I hope you get to hear in person. As you can tell, I like loons. Does that make me crazy? No, just a loon-a-tic.
Remember how close we got to that one loon in Algonquin? It was barely the length of a paddle away from the canoe. That was great!