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I used to work at an animal rescue in Alaska and we'd get loons in sometimes. Something people don't seem to realize is, loons can't walk. Their legs are back too far and they can't hold up their front. They drag themselves onto land just to make nests. When they're in captivity (temporarily if they're in trouble) they need a towel under their chest or they get hurt because they're not supposed to be sitting on land that long. They float on water, that's 99% of their lives.
What amazing facts! Solid bones. Can’t walk on land. I had no idea! I love loon calls. We used to hear them when we lived in Illinois. I grew up in Oklahoma with meadowlarks which are calming to me like the loon is for others.
My Grandfather took me to a log cabin on a wilderness lake in Maine during the summers. I'll never forget falling a sleep at night to the calls of the Loons.
One of my happiest childhood memories is waking up in the middle of the night at summer camp in Maine and hearing the loons on the lake. It was so comforting for a homesick kid and lulled me back to sleep. Thank you for sharing this lovely, very informative video!
36 years ago my wife and I sailed our 25 foot sailboat to the North Channel of Canada for our 3 week honeymoon. At one point we were fogged in for three days in a small island cove. The only other residences were a family of loons. For those 3 wonderful days and nights we were serenaded by those amazing birds and their lovely songs; absolute magic. What a wonderful gift, and a happy memory. Thanks for reminding me of it; I’m smiling right now. Think I’ll find my wife, tell her I love her, and ask her listen to the loons.
When they go underwater, they act like they're first cousins to the penguins! There's something about the Loons that bring a calmness & a feeling of nature as they call on the water.
I have a cottage & I can definitively say that the loon calls are the best indicator of the arrival of summer; it is the most soothing sound to relax & fall asleep on the dock
@@janicedeeter577 After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on-have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear-what remains? *_Nature remains_* ~ Walt Whitman No doubt, Walt Whitman was properly inspired by nature, but so too of course, was Henry Thoreau who casted The Loon as a central character in Walden Pond Like our creative productive generous host, his narrative about the Loon did much to help them and many other creatures, including the human kind. Nature = Truth Truth unites Us Lies divide. Doubt delays.
I love waking up at the cabin in northern minnesota and sitting outside by the lake listening to the loons. On a sunny, 60 degree morning in July it is the most relaxing noise and there is no place I’d rather be in the world
Your part reason why our wilderness in Northern Minnesota is disappearing! People like you won't be happy until they have the B.W.C.A developed! The government sucks for selling the land and you suck for developing it 😭😭😭😭😭
My favorite bird. It’s very comforting & pleasing to hear their evening calls. In late summer/early fall, they often gather in large groups to hunt as a team. They form in a curved line & dive together to herd & catch fish. It’s especially funny when groups of new adults get together & start showing off, flapping their wings, rising up & calling.
Loons create some of the most haunting and beautiful sounds in nature. I have heard them in natural settings and they always stop me in my tracks with their lovely, captivating sound.
You are so right...nothing like the calls and song of the loon. One of our worlds most beautiful creatures. I never tire of them. Ever. Thank you for sharing this extraordinary snapshot into their world.
Lesley, Thank you! This video sent my wife and I down memory lane. We took several backpacking trips on Isle Royale (Lake Superior) and hands down, the fondest memory was listening to the Loons. It was truly other-worldly. I still choke up whenever I hear their calls and it always makes me want to get out in the wild again.
Loons will always remind me of camping fishing trips in MN with my dad. He spent so much time up north he would come back with amazing pictures, stories and even mimicking loon calls
This has been one of my most favorite Birds (definitely number on in the duck family) since 1997.......I was camping in upstate NY with a group of my Family Members and Hearing Their Calls and just the whole atmosphere on Rollins Pond (more like a lake) was So Captivating. Plus, my brother and I were Canoeing one early morn and while sitting near a small Island in the middle of the lake A Loon passed us fairly close with her young nestled on her back. INCREDIBLE BIRDS!!!!
Many decades ago when I was twelve I attended a summer camp at a lake in New Hampshire. Hearing the loons at night then was like listening to the bird version of the chatter you hear now of katydids sounding off in a summer evening. There were just so many loons around then.
I love their black & white feathers! I remember them from my childhood hearing them call off in the distance when I visited my Aunt & Uncles house very close to a large lake. Beautiful!! Babies are so cute! Thanks Lesley!❤
Yay, another favorite bird. Would vacation in northern Minnesota every summer as a kid and enjoyed this bird all the time. If your boat got too close it would disappear under the water.
I once went camping on the Stillwater Reservoir up in NY state, well over 30 years ago. Hearing the Loons was one of the best and most memorable experiences of my life. Hearing loons still gives me chills. Incredibly beautiful call. Thank you much for this video.
In south London we happily have park lakes large enough to support loons: always such a special experience to watch these stylish and beautiful birds floating so low in the water. And those blood-shot eyes and dagger-like beaks, of my. I love them madly.
My grandparents had a cottage on Loon Lake just outside of Gravenhurst, Ontario...the cottage was sold after my Grandpa passed but some of my very best memories are being there...the lake was called Loon Lake for a very good reason...just seeing and hearing them bring back soooooo many happy memories 💕
I love loon calls too. My parents live on a lake, and my grandparents used to have a camp on a lake, both in the beautiful state of Maine, so I have been blessed to hear loons all of my life.
I am so glad we are in an area that has Loons. Nothing compares to being in your kayak on a quiet mountain lake, listening to the songs of the Loon. You’re absolutely right Lesley, their calls generate a feeling of calm. Thank you, a beautiful video!
The Common Loon is my mother's favorite bird. We live in the Adirondack Park in New York State, and have seen & heard them around Lake Luzerne, Lake Abenaki, Raquette Lake, and Schroon Lake. It's always so exciting. They are such regal birds, but also rather elusive when they want to be.
Loons! I have a deep appreciation and admiration for them. My first encounter was visiting Quabbin Reservoir in Western Massachusetts almost 20 years ago, where (we) saw a pair carrying their babies on their backs, so darling. My encounter with the "laughing" tremolo, was when I worked in Wildlife Care we had a pair that were admitted as they had bruised & abraded their keels from accidentally belly-landing on a paved road (the theory is when it was wet with melted snow it looked like a dark ribbon of water), anyway, we had them in a large indoor pool and they'd sort of mess with us when (the vet techs) had to try and catch them to do condition exams, they'd just dive down to the bottom and look back up to us and play the waiting game. When it finally came time to release them (transported to upper NY State I think) we had these rope "hammocks" to support those keels that fitted inside dog crates. The male at one point belted out that laughing tremolo and I happened to be near the room they were hanging out in (sitting in the crates) and I was surrounded by this wall of sound, it was just incredible how much volume they can produce. It is one of my fondest memories from my time in wildlife care.
Oh my what a thing to witness and good on for you devoting your time to helping birds. I can imagine what it must be like to try caring for loons. It's sad about how paved road with melted snow looks like water to them, I've read that before. The way their calls sound outside in the open is incredible, let alone inside in a room. That must have been something
@@LesleytheBirdNerd Thanks. For the most part I did enjoy my time in wildlife care for the handful of years I was doing it. The reality is you're the ER Room / critical triage for wildlife and they can't communicate or are trying to defend themselves thinking you're going to eat them, etc. So emotions can run high etc. But, I'm glad to have been witness to a number of successful releases. It did also put me in contact with area Rehabbers / Educators some I'm still good friends with and have drawn their birds for many years. I had little to do with those Loons, we had to keep contact/handling to a minimum as they are easily stressed with the whole rigamarole.
I remember vacationing in southern Maine as a child and hearing loons from a nearby lake at night 🌉 🌙. Strange for a city kid but oddly comforting at the same time.
Thanks 🙏. My family and I just returned home from our trip to New England where the resident loon sang beneath an ocean of stars. It really is a magical thing to hear in person. This is the perfect thing to wrap up the experience with.
Thanks for this. The loon is high on my list of all time favs! And yep, that call is just so haunting and soothing. Nothing else says you are in the wilderness quite like it.
Thank you so much for the video on Loons. One on my favorite videos that you have ever done. Loons are a favorite of mine and I find their calls to be very therapeutic and soothing. We have them in on Lake Michigan in Cross Village, Michigan. They fly over to the big lake to fish from the inland lakes. The Loons keep their distance and are hard to see, but the sound of their calls travel very well over the waters Lake Michigan on calm evenings.
Ive always loved the sound of the common loon . So peaceful . Beautiful markings too . I wish someday to go to a lake with loons on it . I'm 75 , my time is running out . I love your stories . Keep up the good work . God is good
Every time I hear a loon, I get goosebumps. I've never heard them in real life. Another bird that can make me emotional is the whip-poor-will. I used to hear then as a child, but it's been years since I heard one because of all the housing developments being built around here.
And the Bob-whites. I used to hear them at my Aunt's house in the country. I'd whistle their calls back to them and they'd answer. Bob White and the Whip-or-will. I felt so close to nature when the'd answer. It's been about 52 years since then and I still miss it. I wonder if they still live near that house.
Excellent video!!!! I love loons, but have never been fortunate to see one in person. I do however, follow the Live Cam provided by the Loon Preservations Society each year where we can watch 24/7 as a pair of Loons location, refurbish and move into a nest, and then lay eggs. Live cam records all through the brooding period and is over one or two days after we see the chick hatch. Your video was wonderful! Thank you!
I love their calls. I have never been on a northern lake late in the day to hear these calls, despite living 30 years in upstate NY. It would be a dream to canoe on such a lake someday.
I Come from Australia and I've heard all sorts of unique and interesting calls from all kinds of native birds in my backyard, but the Common Loon has always fascinated me with it's beautiful song. Hopefully one day I can experience it for myself and listen to the Loons at sundown near the water. They are truly lovely birds.
I turned 75 this year and put my loon nest out for the 30th time behind my canoe. The nest sits 200 feet from my easy chair infront of my window. I journal arrival, conception, birth, departure and everything in-between. Their sound never fails to turn my head. I'm on a 40 acre environmental lake in Minnesota. Thank you for reminding me how fortunate I am.
LOVE this one, Thank You Lesley... I'm so old that I can remember when the sound of a loon was the sound of the wild, now the wilds are all tamed and inhabited, but the loon and I are still here...
I started visiting a lake in western Maine in the early-70s, but never heard or saw a loon there until the 2000s. Given a chance, nature can make a comeback. Great vid, ty for posting.
What an incredible bird the loon is! Winter 2021/ 2022 was the season of the loon for me. I still am hoping to get to see them in breeding plumage. The underwater footage here was incredible!
May you have much luck seeing them in breeding plumage. Very beautiful birds. Yes I agree, Curtis did a great job with the underwater footage. I'm so thankful he allowed us to use it
Love your videos ❤️ ty Lesley! I was fortunate enough to live in Lake Placid - about a million years ago - and that was when I heard a Loon for the first time. It's haunting beauty stunned me to silence. It's a sorrowful but beautiful sound. I feel fortunate to have had the experience. 👍
the soundtrack of camping in the Ontario wilderness. They call right before the sun comes up and just as the sun goes down. The most beautiful alarm clock you could ask for.
hi lesley, these are my favourite birds. i see them every year when i go fishing in the far north of canada, in quebec. i was lucky to have one swimming next to the boat and curious to see what we were doing. it was surprisingly big and utterly beautiful. i sit on the warf at sunset and listen to their calls. magic
Wow, you did it! I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. Loons have become one of my favorite birds. Hearing their calls - especially the hauntingly beautiful wails - are one of the things I look forward to the most when I visit Maine every summer. Another interesting fact about them is how their legs are positioned far back on their bodies. This makes them nimble swimmers, but awkward when having to walk on land. This is why they spend most of their lives on water and also why their nests tend to be right against the water. And their piercing red eyes are so unusual. Stellar video, Lesley. Well done & thanks so much.
Hey thank you so much. And thanks for sharing those other facts. I do plan on making more loon videos especially for next Spring and Summer. I hope to have more videos of them to work with so I can go into other fascinating information.
I've heard these birds. They winter every year along the shoreline of the state I live in, which is CT. They're calls are beautiful, amazing, and give a feeling of peace, esp during calmer, quieter conditions. They're very quiet when they dive from the surface and hardly make any splash or wake, unlike Cormorants and diving ducks. A bird that would fall in the same class as the Common Loon as for calls and songs would be the Barred Owl. Haunting calls that are more like a song and give you that nice, cozy, outdoors feeling, esp during calmer, quieter conditions.
I spent three glorious years living in a loft apartment overlooking a pond located in southern Maine. I looked forward each night to the calls, yodels, and tremolos of the loons. Since then, I often look them up online just to hear them again, and it takes me back each time to my years at the pond...
The call of the loon sends a chill down my spine. It is so mournful and so beautiful. I would love to see them in person one day. The footage you captured of the loon was excellent. They are such graceful swimmers, and I love the way the chicks ride on the backs of their parents. Thank you for another lovely video!
alot of my teenage years spent Summers at Winnipesaukee some late nights listening to these birds. It's something I will never forget and always look back on fondly. It's bucket list IMO...Everyone should experience pitch black darkness on a boat dock and hear this sound. Or have one pop up right at the side of your boat and look at you with that red beady eye and then disappear back into the abyss.
Thank you. I grew up listening to loons when I went to Eastern Ontario with my grandparents. I moved to the Pacific NW 3 years ago, and have not found any in my search for them. I am in central Oregon. I miss those haunting calls and the connection to Spirit that they open in me.
Growing up in British Columbia, I've literally heard them my entire life. I remember waking up hearing them on a nearby lake in the black of night, but their haunting calls would soothe me back to sleep. They were always so mysterious to me as a child, and hearing legends like how the loon got his necklace deepened that feeling. Hearing them is something that always makes me feel better, and I hope to pass that on to my future kids.
Wow that was magical! It is the fact their calls echo so often that adds to the feeling of mystery that they evoke for me. In UK we call this bird the Great Northern Diver, which somehow seems much more impressive than the rather prosaic Common Loon (and for me there is nothing really crazy about them, although I suppose some of their calls might make you think of maniacal laughter). Further they are associated with the remote lochs of Scotland, so not a bird that I have ever been lucky enough to see or hear - I have seen red- and black-throated divers, however. Finally, I think their appearance is truly striking with their geometrical black and white markings. Thank you, Lesley.
I agree, much better name. It's a shame for such an enchanting bird to have the word "common" in it's name. Yea there is definitely nothing crazy about loons, they are magical and beautiful. Their plumage coloration truly is something spectacular. I'm glad you enjoyed this little video. Thank you
Definitely my favorite type of loon, as it’s calls are the prettiest and it’s the most beautiful one in my opinion, but the other four species are beautiful as well! Loons are so beautiful in general, I love all of them so much! Great video on my favorite type of waterfowl! :)
Loons are the sound of late summer for me, I used to go up north every year with my family when I was young and these birds were quite prevalent up in northern wisconsin. I love them!
Thank you for this video. We hear the Loons up in the lakes near our place in the western mountains of Maine. So special to hear their calls. Brings me much peace!
When I hear the loons I imagine that is how the dinosaurs sounded in the past. There's something so common and yet incredibly alien in their calls. Beautiful birds.
After college, I was job hunting and spent the summer at my sister's cabin on Black Duck Lake, Minnesota. I got to listen to loons every night. In the morning I would sit outside with my cup of tea and binoculars. I started a bird list and added many birds to my life list..
I clicked on the video just to hear that beautiful, haunting call. Not that they are not beautiful. I live in northern Indiana and have seen a Loon only once.
I have never seen a loon nor heard it. I have their calls on my old walkman by my bed at night. Sounds a bit melancholy to me and relaxing. Thanks so much for this awesome video!
It was just the other day when I was reminded of the loon’s hauntingly beautiful call and rushed to pull up a clip it for my partner.😊 Wonderful video!
Thirty years ago, spent a week at cabin on a lake in New Hampshire. One early morning while fishing in the low fog, I heard the yodel. That morning was when the loon became my favorite water foul.
My dad and I go to Wilberforce (Ontario) every so often to collect minerals. It's dead silent at night, sky is perfectly clear with what seems like 1000x more starts than you can see in a city. With numerous lakes scattering the landscape, just about every night we'd hear Loon calls echoing across the wilderness. For me, the sound nearly brings tears to my eyes with how beautiful it is.
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Awesome video!!
@@marilynvardy4255 thank you so much, Marilyn 🐦🙂
@@LesleytheBirdNerd I love the sound of common loon yolding 🥰
@@micahbirdlover8152 it's a pretty cool call
Excellent video Lesley! Thanks for featuring my video!
I used to work at an animal rescue in Alaska and we'd get loons in sometimes. Something people don't seem to realize is, loons can't walk. Their legs are back too far and they can't hold up their front. They drag themselves onto land just to make nests. When they're in captivity (temporarily if they're in trouble) they need a towel under their chest or they get hurt because they're not supposed to be sitting on land that long. They float on water, that's 99% of their lives.
Thanks for adding this comment, a lot of great information for people out there unaware. Maybe Ill do a separate video one day on this
@@LesleytheBirdNerd yeah new video 😊
@@LesleytheBirdNerd there yolding is so beautiful and peaceful 😌
I didn’t know that! They also sit so low in the water, which is how they can be spotted from a distance.
I love their voices 🥰
What amazing facts! Solid bones. Can’t walk on land. I had no idea! I love loon calls. We used to hear them when we lived in Illinois. I grew up
in Oklahoma with meadowlarks which are calming to me like the loon is for others.
I think that Loons are the most exquisite birds on the planet. Their feathers, markings and calls are perfection.
One of my favorites. Nothing says wilderness like the call of a loon
My Grandfather took me to a log cabin on a wilderness lake in Maine during the summers. I'll never forget falling a sleep at night to the calls of the Loons.
One of my happiest childhood memories is waking up in the middle of the night at summer camp in Maine and hearing the loons on the lake. It was so comforting for a homesick kid and lulled me back to sleep. Thank you for sharing this lovely, very informative video!
This brings back nostalgic memories of northern Minnesota. I love this bird!
36 years ago my wife and I sailed our 25 foot sailboat to the North Channel of Canada for our 3 week honeymoon. At one point we were fogged in for three days in a small island cove. The only other residences were a family of loons. For those 3 wonderful days and nights we were serenaded by those amazing birds and their lovely songs; absolute magic. What a wonderful gift, and a happy memory. Thanks for reminding me of it; I’m smiling right now. Think I’ll find my wife, tell her I love her, and ask her listen to the loons.
That put a tear in my eye. Absolutely beautiful. 🥰🐦
What a wonderful memory of an incredible experience. Wow.
Absolutely beautiful memory you've experienced there!
In all seriousness, this comment needs pinned.
Thanks. That's very kind of you to say.@@kellyrodgers4961
You are a thoughtful man
When they go underwater, they act like they're first cousins to the penguins! There's something about the Loons that bring a calmness & a feeling of nature as they call on the water.
So true they do behave similar under water. I agree they just have that way of bringing some peace. Beautiful beings🥰🐦
I have a cottage & I can definitively say that the loon calls are the best indicator of the arrival of summer; it is the most soothing sound to relax & fall asleep on the dock
They have a beautiful call that I absolutely love. Their sound gives the same feeling that I get when I hear wolves or whales...haunting.
Majestic!
@@John-Adams-Can Oh yes... Nature heals
I'm with you all then way .
Love the 3 you mentioned . Wish l could hear them in real life .
@@janicedeeter577
After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on-have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear-what remains?
*_Nature remains_*
~ Walt Whitman
No doubt, Walt Whitman was properly inspired by nature, but so too of course, was Henry Thoreau who casted The Loon as a central character in Walden Pond
Like our creative productive generous host, his narrative about the Loon did much to help them and many other creatures, including the human kind.
Nature = Truth
Truth unites Us
Lies divide.
Doubt delays.
Yes their calls are very hauntingly beautiful…and that sunset shot!!! Wow! Great video!♥️
Thank you Sherry
What an elegant creature! The precision of the banding colors on the feathers is unreal! Love your videos and song bird calls.
Thank you very much :) and I agree, the colors are gorgeous
This bird has the most epic call of any bird by a very very long way! 😱
Oh my gosh I didn’t know
I recently spent a week canoe camping in the Boundary Waters of northern MN. The calls of the Loons was a daily treat.
I love waking up at the cabin in northern minnesota and sitting outside by the lake listening to the loons. On a sunny, 60 degree morning in July it is the most relaxing noise and there is no place I’d rather be in the world
Your part reason why our wilderness in Northern Minnesota is disappearing! People like you won't be happy until they have the B.W.C.A developed! The government sucks for selling the land and you suck for developing it 😭😭😭😭😭
Love the Loon’s calls too. Impressed also by their underwater swimming.
Drawn by their call, I first visited and then moved to Maine. That powerful!
Beautiful state !
My favorite bird. It’s very comforting & pleasing to hear their evening calls. In late summer/early fall, they often gather in large groups to hunt as a team. They form in a curved line & dive together to herd & catch fish. It’s especially funny when groups of new adults get together & start showing off, flapping their wings, rising up & calling.
Every summer in vacation I sit at the lake's deck at around midnight and wait for a loon's concert while looking at the stars. Best time of the year
I live in upstate NY and they're beautiful birds with a soothingly haunting call. Especially watching them during twilight. Thanks for the post!
Right at dusk you can hear them across the lake and they are a good distance off ! Such character !
Loons create some of the most haunting and beautiful sounds in nature. I have heard them in natural settings and they always stop me in my tracks with their lovely, captivating sound.
Absolutely no words to explain how beautiful this bird is!
You are so right...nothing like the calls and song of the loon. One of our worlds most beautiful creatures. I never tire of them. Ever. Thank you for sharing this extraordinary snapshot into their world.
I watched the loon nest cam for the first time this year. Just beautiful and love their calls.
The loons on Devils lake in Michigan have brought me peace. Love these sounds.
Childhood memories. 💓
I love that. Wonderful ❤️🐦
Lesley, Thank you! This video sent my wife and I down memory lane. We took several backpacking trips on Isle Royale (Lake Superior) and hands down, the fondest memory was listening to the Loons. It was truly other-worldly. I still choke up whenever I hear their calls and it always makes me want to get out in the wild again.
My absolute favorite..😍the boundary waters in MN is a hotbed of these beauteous buddies..such beautiful calls they Make..❤️
My fondest memories of camping on remote lakes in the Adirondacks are because of the beautiful calls of these birds at dawn and dusk.
Love it up there!!!
Loons will always remind me of camping fishing trips in MN with my dad. He spent so much time up north he would come back with amazing pictures, stories and even mimicking loon calls
This has been one of my most favorite Birds (definitely number on in the duck family) since 1997.......I was camping in upstate NY with a group of my Family Members and Hearing Their Calls and just the whole atmosphere on Rollins Pond (more like a lake) was So Captivating. Plus, my brother and I were Canoeing one early morn and while sitting near a small Island in the middle of the lake A Loon passed us fairly close with her young nestled on her back. INCREDIBLE BIRDS!!!!
The patterns on their back/wings are sooo pretty~💞
Thank you for sharing this video~🤗
Many decades ago when I was twelve I attended a summer camp at a lake in New Hampshire. Hearing the loons at night then was like listening to the bird version of the chatter you hear now of katydids sounding off in a summer evening. There were just so many loons around then.
That's sounds so beautiful. 🐦
I love their black & white feathers! I remember them from my childhood hearing them call off in the distance when I visited my Aunt & Uncles house very close to a large lake. Beautiful!! Babies are so cute!
Thanks Lesley!❤
Yay, another favorite bird. Would vacation in northern Minnesota every summer as a kid and enjoyed this bird all the time. If your boat got too close it would disappear under the water.
I once went camping on the Stillwater Reservoir up in NY state, well over 30 years ago. Hearing the Loons was one of the best and most memorable experiences of my life. Hearing loons still gives me chills. Incredibly beautiful call. Thank you much for this video.
Central and northern Wisconsin lakes is where I spend time listening to the loons. Their cries fill me with a serenity I can't describe.
In south London we happily have park lakes large enough to support loons: always such a special experience to watch these stylish and beautiful birds floating so low in the water. And those blood-shot eyes and dagger-like beaks, of my. I love them madly.
Beautiful looking birds. So sleek and elegant under water. I loved this video 💜
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed
My grandparents had a cottage on Loon Lake just outside of Gravenhurst, Ontario...the cottage was sold after my Grandpa passed but some of my very best memories are being there...the lake was called Loon Lake for a very good reason...just seeing and hearing them bring back soooooo many happy memories 💕
Classic Muskoka
I love loon calls too. My parents live on a lake, and my grandparents used to have a camp on a lake, both in the beautiful state of Maine, so I have been blessed to hear loons all of my life.
Oh how lucky. Truly beautiful calls yo hear. 🐦❤️
Invite me up . I'd give anything to hear them in life . I live in Ky
I am so glad we are in an area that has Loons. Nothing compares to being in your kayak on a quiet mountain lake, listening to the songs of the Loon. You’re absolutely right Lesley, their calls generate a feeling of calm. Thank you, a beautiful video!
The Common Loon is my mother's favorite bird. We live in the Adirondack Park in New York State, and have seen & heard them around Lake Luzerne, Lake Abenaki, Raquette Lake, and Schroon Lake. It's always so exciting. They are such regal birds, but also rather elusive when they want to be.
They head to the coastal areas for the winter. On the Atlantic and Pacific
Loons! I have a deep appreciation and admiration for them. My first encounter was visiting Quabbin Reservoir in Western Massachusetts almost 20 years ago, where (we) saw a pair carrying their babies on their backs, so darling. My encounter with the "laughing" tremolo, was when I worked in Wildlife Care we had a pair that were admitted as they had bruised & abraded their keels from accidentally belly-landing on a paved road (the theory is when it was wet with melted snow it looked like a dark ribbon of water), anyway, we had them in a large indoor pool and they'd sort of mess with us when (the vet techs) had to try and catch them to do condition exams, they'd just dive down to the bottom and look back up to us and play the waiting game. When it finally came time to release them (transported to upper NY State I think) we had these rope "hammocks" to support those keels that fitted inside dog crates. The male at one point belted out that laughing tremolo and I happened to be near the room they were hanging out in (sitting in the crates) and I was surrounded by this wall of sound, it was just incredible how much volume they can produce. It is one of my fondest memories from my time in wildlife care.
Oh my what a thing to witness and good on for you devoting your time to helping birds. I can imagine what it must be like to try caring for loons. It's sad about how paved road with melted snow looks like water to them, I've read that before. The way their calls sound outside in the open is incredible, let alone inside in a room. That must have been something
@@LesleytheBirdNerd Thanks. For the most part I did enjoy my time in wildlife care for the handful of years I was doing it. The reality is you're the ER Room / critical triage for wildlife and they can't communicate or are trying to defend themselves thinking you're going to eat them, etc. So emotions can run high etc. But, I'm glad to have been witness to a number of successful releases. It did also put me in contact with area Rehabbers / Educators some I'm still good friends with and have drawn their birds for many years.
I had little to do with those Loons, we had to keep contact/handling to a minimum as they are easily stressed with the whole rigamarole.
The gorgeous loon reminds me of family trips to New Hampshire, and the loon calls as the evening sky glowed with pink and purple.
I remember vacationing in southern Maine as a child and hearing loons from a nearby lake at night 🌉 🌙. Strange for a city kid but oddly comforting at
the same time.
I'm glad you experienced hearing their calls for your self 🙂🐦
Totally agree! I'm a bit of a city kid myself
Thanks 🙏. My family and I just returned home from our trip to New England where the resident loon sang beneath an ocean of stars. It really is a magical thing to hear in person. This is the perfect thing to wrap up the experience with.
What a beautiful experience you had
Love the loons. my grandparents had a cabin on a lake in Maine. Nothing like them. I love loons!
Thanks for this. The loon is high on my list of all time favs! And yep, that call is just so haunting and soothing. Nothing else says you are in the wilderness quite like it.
Nicely put. 🙂🐦
💜 Imagine living next to a lake that sings. 💜
Thank you so much for the video on Loons. One on my favorite videos that you have ever done. Loons are a favorite of mine and I find their calls to be very therapeutic and soothing. We have them in on Lake Michigan in Cross Village, Michigan. They fly over to the big lake to fish from the inland lakes. The Loons keep their distance and are hard to see, but the sound of their calls travel very well over the waters Lake Michigan on calm evenings.
Ive always loved the sound of the common loon . So peaceful . Beautiful markings too . I wish someday to go to a lake with loons on it . I'm 75 , my time is running out . I love your stories . Keep up the good work . God is good
Every time I hear a loon, I get goosebumps. I've never heard them in real life. Another bird that can make me emotional is the whip-poor-will. I used to hear then as a child, but it's been years since I heard one because of all the housing developments being built around here.
That is so sad about not hearing the whip-poor-will. Loons have given me goosebumps too.
And the Bob-whites. I used to hear them at my Aunt's house in the country. I'd whistle their calls back to them and they'd answer. Bob White and the Whip-or-will. I felt so close to nature when the'd answer. It's been about 52 years since then and I still miss it. I wonder if they still live near that house.
Me too . I also love the song of purple martins .
I worked for 5 years in the Laurentian forests, and the sound of loons on the lake, at the end of a long hot summer day was the perfect lullaby.
I love the echo of their calls across the water… I have never heard it in person but someday….!
Excellent video!!!! I love loons, but have never been fortunate to see one in person. I do however, follow the Live Cam provided by the Loon Preservations Society each year where we can watch 24/7 as a pair of Loons location, refurbish and move into a nest, and then lay eggs. Live cam records all through the brooding period and is over one or two days after we see the chick hatch. Your video was wonderful! Thank you!
Thanks for the info! Ill have to check that out
Glad you enjoyed the video, thank you
I love their calls. I have never been on a northern lake late in the day to hear these calls, despite living 30 years in upstate NY. It would be a dream to canoe on such a lake someday.
I Come from Australia and I've heard all sorts of unique and interesting calls from all kinds of native birds in my backyard, but the Common Loon has always fascinated me with it's beautiful song. Hopefully one day I can experience it for myself and listen to the Loons at sundown near the water.
They are truly lovely birds.
I hope that you get to experience that yourself too :)
Hearing a loon takes me right back to canoe/portage camping deep in the dotted the lakes of the Canadian shield... I think part of my soul is there...
I turned 75 this year and put my loon nest out for the 30th time behind my canoe. The nest sits 200 feet from my easy chair infront of my window. I journal arrival, conception, birth, departure and everything in-between. Their sound never fails to turn my head. I'm on a 40 acre environmental lake in Minnesota. Thank you for reminding me how fortunate I am.
Wow Hank
That sounds like such a great opportunity you have there, fortunate you are for sure.
LOVE this one, Thank You Lesley... I'm so old that I can remember when the sound of a loon was the sound of the wild, now the wilds are all tamed and inhabited, but the loon and I are still here...
This video was a return to my childhood, the loons call wow, thank you Lesley 😄❤️
The Loon is absolutely one of my favourite birds❗️
I started visiting a lake in western Maine in the early-70s, but never heard or saw a loon there until the 2000s. Given a chance, nature can make a comeback.
Great vid, ty for posting.
What an incredible bird the loon is! Winter 2021/ 2022 was the season of the loon for me. I still am hoping to get to see them in breeding plumage. The underwater footage here was incredible!
May you have much luck seeing them in breeding plumage. Very beautiful birds. Yes I agree, Curtis did a great job with the underwater footage. I'm so thankful he allowed us to use it
Love your videos ❤️ ty Lesley! I was fortunate enough to live in Lake Placid - about a million years ago - and that was when I heard a Loon for the first time. It's haunting beauty stunned me to silence. It's a sorrowful but beautiful sound. I feel fortunate to have had the experience. 👍
the soundtrack of camping in the Ontario wilderness. They call right before the sun comes up and just as the sun goes down. The most beautiful alarm clock you could ask for.
hi lesley, these are my favourite birds. i see them every year when i go fishing in the far north of canada, in quebec. i was lucky to have one swimming next to the boat and curious to see what we were doing. it was surprisingly big and utterly beautiful. i sit on the warf at sunset and listen to their calls. magic
Love this video & love the sounds of Loons. It's so relaxing. Thank you Leslie
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow, you did it! I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. Loons have become one of my favorite birds. Hearing their calls - especially the hauntingly beautiful wails - are one of the things I look forward to the most when I visit Maine every summer. Another interesting fact about them is how their legs are positioned far back on their bodies. This makes them nimble swimmers, but awkward when having to walk on land. This is why they spend most of their lives on water and also why their nests tend to be right against the water. And their piercing red eyes are so unusual. Stellar video, Lesley. Well done & thanks so much.
Hey thank you so much. And thanks for sharing those other facts. I do plan on making more loon videos especially for next Spring and Summer. I hope to have more videos of them to work with so I can go into other fascinating information.
I've heard these birds. They winter every year along the shoreline of the state I live in, which is CT. They're calls are beautiful, amazing, and give a feeling of peace, esp during calmer, quieter conditions. They're very quiet when they dive from the surface and hardly make any splash or wake, unlike Cormorants and diving ducks.
A bird that would fall in the same class as the Common Loon as for calls and songs would be the Barred Owl. Haunting calls that are more like a song and give you that nice, cozy, outdoors feeling, esp during calmer, quieter conditions.
We live near a small lake in Alberta Canada. My favorite part of evening is listening to the loon.
I spent three glorious years living in a loft apartment overlooking a pond located in southern Maine. I looked forward each night to the calls, yodels, and tremolos of the loons. Since then, I often look them up online just to hear them again, and it takes me back each time to my years at the pond...
The call of the loon sends a chill down my spine. It is so mournful and so beautiful. I would love to see them in person one day. The footage you captured of the loon was excellent. They are such graceful swimmers, and I love the way the chicks ride on the backs of their parents. Thank you for another lovely video!
Thank you, Susan. They really are something else to hear while out in the wilderness. Love everything about loons
alot of my teenage years spent Summers at Winnipesaukee some late nights listening to these birds. It's something I will never forget and always look back on fondly. It's bucket list IMO...Everyone should experience pitch black darkness on a boat dock and hear this sound. Or have one pop up right at the side of your boat and look at you with that red beady eye and then disappear back into the abyss.
Thank you. I grew up listening to loons when I went to Eastern Ontario with my grandparents. I moved to the Pacific NW 3 years ago, and have not found any in my search for them. I am in central Oregon. I miss those haunting calls and the connection to Spirit that they open in me.
Growing up in British Columbia, I've literally heard them my entire life. I remember waking up hearing them on a nearby lake in the black of night, but their haunting calls would soothe me back to sleep. They were always so mysterious to me as a child, and hearing legends like how the loon got his necklace deepened that feeling. Hearing them is something that always makes me feel better, and I hope to pass that on to my future kids.
Wow that was magical! It is the fact their calls echo so often that adds to the feeling of mystery that they evoke for me. In UK we call this bird the Great Northern Diver, which somehow seems much more impressive than the rather prosaic Common Loon (and for me there is nothing really crazy about them, although I suppose some of their calls might make you think of maniacal laughter). Further they are associated with the remote lochs of Scotland, so not a bird that I have ever been lucky enough to see or hear - I have seen red- and black-throated divers, however. Finally, I think their appearance is truly striking with their geometrical black and white markings. Thank you, Lesley.
I agree, much better name. It's a shame for such an enchanting bird to have the word "common" in it's name. Yea there is definitely nothing crazy about loons, they are magical and beautiful. Their plumage coloration truly is something spectacular. I'm glad you enjoyed this little video. Thank you
Definitely my favorite type of loon, as it’s calls are the prettiest and it’s the most beautiful one in my opinion, but the other four species are beautiful as well! Loons are so beautiful in general, I love all of them so much! Great video on my favorite type of waterfowl! :)
Loons are the sound of late summer for me, I used to go up north every year with my family when I was young and these birds were quite prevalent up in northern wisconsin. I love them!
Thank you for this video. We hear the Loons up in the lakes near our place in the western mountains of Maine. So special to hear their calls. Brings me much peace!
When I hear the loons I imagine that is how the dinosaurs sounded in the past. There's something so common and yet incredibly alien in their calls. Beautiful birds.
After college, I was job hunting and spent the summer at my sister's cabin on Black Duck Lake, Minnesota. I got to listen to loons every night. In the morning I would sit outside with my cup of tea and binoculars. I started a bird list and added many birds to my life list..
How nice 🙂🐦
I clicked on the video just to hear that beautiful, haunting call. Not that they are not beautiful. I live in northern Indiana and have seen a Loon only once.
I have never seen a loon nor heard it. I have their calls on my old walkman by my bed at night. Sounds a bit melancholy to me and relaxing. Thanks so much for this awesome video!
It was just the other day when I was reminded of the loon’s hauntingly beautiful call and rushed to pull up a clip it for my partner.😊 Wonderful video!
Thirty years ago, spent a week at cabin on a lake in New Hampshire. One early morning while fishing in the low fog, I heard the yodel. That morning was when the loon became my favorite water foul.
So lovely! Loons are so ancient a species, and this video showed them off!
Thank you Lesley for this excellent informative video on the Loons. I do love their vocalizations. 😀
Glad you enjoyed it!
Those calls give me good feels/goose bumps. Thanks ❤️
Thank you Lesley for such a lovely peaceful video.
You’re welcome 😊
The most beautiful sound on the water! And my favorite bird, among many others. Lol
My dad and I go to Wilberforce (Ontario) every so often to collect minerals. It's dead silent at night, sky is perfectly clear with what seems like 1000x more starts than you can see in a city. With numerous lakes scattering the landscape, just about every night we'd hear Loon calls echoing across the wilderness. For me, the sound nearly brings tears to my eyes with how beautiful it is.
How beautiful that is.
I grew up in northern Minnesota. I love the songs of the loon. Thank you.
You're welcome. A lot of people have fond memories of hearing loons in the wilderness
Happy to drop by…
Sending love and light to all…🙏🏼
Thanks for bringing back memories of my 19 years living near a lake in northern Maine. I do miss the loons.
Our pleasure!
I luv the sounds of the loons. Beautiful looking birds. ☮️
Absolutely love the Loons and their calls. Beautiful birds. They are very calming when they call. Love your videos. Thx
A great video on an interesting and beautiful bird. Their sounds are awesome.
Thank you, Roger. I agree their sounds are wonderful