Tag: Fish Creek Ponds

Baby Loon Tries to Fly

What is a nice body of water to kayak or canoe one and see loons? I have been to Fish Creek Pond a few times in the Adirondack Mountains of NY. Each time I have seen mother and her baby. I have never seen the father.

This is an August photo.

The first time I spotted these two in August the mother was still bringing a lot of fish to the baby although the baby was trying to go under water in pursuit of fish itself. This baby appeared to be older and larger than the other loon babies I saw on other lakes and ponds.

In September, the mother was not bringing much fish to the baby. I only witnessed one. It was leaving the baby mostly to its own devices. The baby was fishing a lot.

Flying Practice

Then, I heard the mother call from the other side of the pond, and the baby stopped fishing and swam further down the pond, turned and faced the wind and tried to fly. (I was thinking the mother said the wind is good, stop and practice flying. ) The baby went back down the pond and tried again and again. It was flapping its wings attempting to walk on the water at the same time. It came close to going totally airborne.

After going further down the pond it raised itself up and started flapping its wings attempting to fly.
You can see here it is running on top of the water while flapping its wings.
I wasn’t totally pleased with these actions shots, but with the wind and water movement sitting in a kayak I am just happy to have observed and captured this.
Almost up!
I have a growing audience. I guess I will try again. Wish me luck!

Then it went back to fishing. It complained weakly. Not sure if the baby was discouraged by its flying attempts. The mother came by and brought the baby a fish. Either it was a reward for the flying attempts, encouragement, or the baby still needed a little help getting food.

Pretty soon the adult loons fly off and leave the babies behind. It’s important they fish for themselves. They will practice many times swimming to the far end of a pond, facing the wind, and attempting to fly. Eventually they do. Because they are such big birds they need a lot of space for their take off. They will join other loons further south after they figure it all out.

Fish Creek Ponds Loons

Fish Creek Ponds is in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. It is near Upper Saranac Lake. These photos were taken from a kayak during a trip in August.

I saw the loons in the morning and afternoon of the same day on the same section of the pond. I only saw one parent and one child. The baby was always swimming close to the mother in August.
Looks both ways for boaters before crossing the pond.
Loon Fishing Technique
Dive under the water, pursue and catch a small fish.
Shake the small fish around in the water to attract a bigger fish……
and voila! You get a bigger fish.
This mother was still feeding the baby in August. The baby was attempting to find fish on its own as well.
The hand off.
The other babies I saw in July and August were smaller and had brownish colored feathers.

The baby loon was always close to the mother in August. I did not see a second parent around. I may post pictures from September another time. Loons are interesting birds to watch. Just remember keep a distance.

%d bloggers like this: