Ice out was April 12th. At about 4 in the morning on April 17th, Steve awoke to the tremolo flight calls of the loons. Some of the rest of the Long Lake feathered flotilla also started making a bit of a ruckus. The Mergansers are here. And Black Ducks. And way, way too many Canada Geese.
Loons landed on Long Lake and then began all manner of loony tunes. They went through most of their repertoire of hoots and yodels and wails. The distinctive wail is the call that loons use to figure out where their loon buddies are. Listen to their vocalizations here, on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site.
The Loons arrived and are fishing for the little fish. Shelly the Great Dane and Jeff, her human, made a cameo appearance (see the upper left corner above). They are already out fishing for the big fish.
Here’s a few more shots of one of the loons.
The loons are also back on Bedore Lake. One came back a week before it’s mate. We were very concerned that something had happened to her. Love them so much. We also love watching the loons at LongLake. Thank you for the wonderful blog.
@Julia…thanks so much for reading my blog and commenting. Steve has a few more wonderful photos of this loon, that I will likely post tonight.