Loon Courtship

[Boreal Chickadee]

First of all these are LOUSY photos-I took them with my Kodal easy share digital through my 10x binoculars. My hiking version of digiscoping.Then to really make them terrible I croped them.

But...my son and I went to Middle Settlement lake today for a wonderful spring hike. We had the pleasure of meeting JohnNab and his friend upon arriving at the lean-to. John had mentioned that there had been one loon on the lake. The leanto journal last week had a posting of 5 loons at one time.

The loon in the photo was courting a cute she-loon. He would do the normal stand up out of the water and spread my wings to show her how beautiful I am but then he became really loony. He'd throw himself backwards onto his back, shove his belly up in the air (think like arching your back) and backpaddle with his wings like all h*ll was breaking loose. Splahing all over the place. This went on throughout the late afternoon. Miss she-loon apparently got tired of looking at Mr Show off and disappeared behind the island. Didn't stop our guy from putting on the show!

I hope they show somewhat the fantastic display we were treated to on this beautiful spring day.

[Boreal Chickadee]

Mr Looony

[Boreal Chickadee]

The show continues

[Boreal Chickadee]

What entertainment!

[Judgeh]

I now know why I couldn't get a date for the senior prom. I had no idea.

[dog]

Sad story ...
I did not know , it's possible to make pix throuth binoculars .
Tnx , Peanut Butter .

[wildbrookies]

Peanut Butter,

Wow, really nice photos of nature at its best!!!!!!

I think the pictures came out very well!

One can even make out the position the loon is in during its display of kookiness!!

You were very fortunate to have witnessed their courting show...

I`ve often watched loons whenever I see them on ponds ....seen them do alot cool diving and surfacing and such,but nothing like that!!!

Thanks for sharing your day with us!

Wb

[Boreal Chickadee]

You know, I first fell in love with loons in Maine 30 years ago. All I had to do was hear their calls once. But in all those years I've never seen this type of display. We watched this go on for about 1 1/2 hours and it was a treat like no other.

Dog- What I do is twist out the eye cup. On my Nikon binoculars the lens of my Kodak Easyshare fits in perfectly. The problem is holding the weight of the binoculars with one hand and the camera with the other. Then the wind blows! I can't keep it steady, I'll tell you that. I finally moved and put the binos down on the rock and tried to work from there but then the bird moved so it was back to balancing them. Birders do a lot of digiscoping-using a digital camera with a scope. A key component is some type of setup to try to seal out the light and steady the camera lens on the scope.Cutting a hole in the lid to a spice container is pretty common. I'm pretty lucky that my camera and binos have a good fit "as is".

JudgeH- So look up that long lost girl and do a couple of backward flips, flap your arms and act a little crazy. I guarantee you'll get some attention.

[dog]

Tnx , Peanut Butter .
I just tried my silly F-10 with binocular - it' working !!
Yes , support or not shaking hands .

BTW without you comments on this egoist - loon ( and thy look so aristocratic on public ! ) , this set of pix can be seen as a tragic crash .

anyway .

[AdRegion]

Hey PB, I've been cogitating on the digiscoping thing for awhile now. Since I've inadvertantly become a birder, I've had to upgrade my photographic equipment. Just purchased a new cameral with more advanced features - went from an HP to a Canon A700. Now I just need to save my pennies for a good compatable spotting scope. Anyone have any suggestions?

The A700 also allow the use of add-on lenses. There is a telephoto lens that looks promising. I've found that most of my pics around here unless they are on open water doesn't require extreme magnification. Poor light conditions and the ability to focus on small objects is the problem I face the most.

[Mavs00]

He'd throw himself backwards onto his back, shove his belly up in the air (think like arching your back) and backpaddle with his wings like all h*ll was breaking loose. Splahing all over the place. This went on throughout the late afternoon. Miss she-loon apparently got tired of looking at Mr Show off and disappeared behind the island. Didn't stop our guy from putting on the show!

{sigh...........................} Poor little dude, I know just what he's going through. I feel bad, I least as I got older, I could buy her a few drinks to help the process along.

Hmmmmmm, and I though ALL loons were beautiful. I guess there is a few ugly ones in there too. I find that oddly comforting

[johnnab]

I guess we left too soon. He wasn't doing anything of that sort for the couple hours we were there. Still, it was great just watching him fishing and listening to his calls.

In all it was a great day at Middle Settlement Lake. Awesome weather and scenery and it was nice to meet Peanut Butter and her son.

John

[Gray Ghost]

I had the luxury of witnessing Loon courtship at Pharaoh last Spring. What's really amazing is that they mate for life....their young even ride on the backs of the mother for protection. Just beautiful birds. One Spring morning I was paddling across Pharaoh...mist on the water...whole lake to myself...that is until I heard a loon's eerie call. Something I'll never forget...I look forward to hearing that call whenever I hit a pond now.

[Boreal Chickadee]

AdRegion- A GOOD spotting scope requires a home equity loan or at the very least agreeing to sell one's first born son. Which is why I don't have one. My scope is old, very old. Compared to the new good ones, it's a crappy dinosaur. Optics have improved so much over the years. Binoculars have gone through the same transition but at least with binoculars you can get a good decent pair for less than half of what you would have paid for the same quality 4 years ago. Scopes are still sky high.

The winter 2002 issue of "Living Bird", published by the Laboratory of Ornithology had a good write-up on scopes. Ken Rosenberg wrote the article. I would call or write the Lab and see if they can send you a copy. I'm looking at a copy I happen to have on file and it's way too light to scan and send. If Cornell can't or won't send you a copy, let me know and I'll get hold of a better one to scan. But I think they'll send you one as it's used for informational purposes.

Cornell:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/About/HowToReachUs.html

Swarovski is the favored brand, They're amazing. I quit taking out my scope on a trip this winter with other birders because my scope was so sad to look through after using theirs. My new binoculars make my old scope look like a child's toy. That's how much optics have improved. You have to have a real good heavy tripod for the scope. Try Eagleoptics.com. the scope (80 mm is preferred) will run you $1900 and an eyepiece another $350 per magnification. Then of course the tripod, the cover, the carrying strap....Sigh...which is why I have my 25 year old scope.

The Winter 2005 "Living Bird" had a good article with ratings on binoculars. I upgraded mine recently. Paid less than I did 5 years ago for a lighter pair with better image quality.

[AdRegion]

A GOOD spotting scope requires a home equity loan or at the very least agreeing to sell one's first born son.

I've got a mortgage and two kids, so yeah the really good stuff is out. My hope is to find a decent used one somewhere serendipitously. Thanks for the info, the Cornell Lab is most definately a wealth of information.