If you liked the video the best way to support the channel is by SHARING it with other fellow birders. For anyone interested in official LesleytheBirdNerd merchandise www.lesleythebirdnerd.com/ I appreciate each and every one of your support and I hope you enjoyed the show!
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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!!!!
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 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
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.
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!
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 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...
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.
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 😭😭😭😭😭
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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'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 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.
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 💕
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.
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.
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.
It never ceases to amuse me an my ranger friend when we hear loons in movies as wolf howels or some sort of spooky creature and/or when the calls are in areas where Loons don't live. 😅
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.
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!
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.
I have only heard loons 2 times in my life. Both I count as among the most amazing experiences in nature I’ve ever witnessed. The first was on a secluded lake in Northern Idaho. The second was at another secluded lake in Oregon. Both times I was camping, so I got extended experiences. Magical, I’d say.
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
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.
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
Yay!! Thank you for making a video on the common loon! They are my favorite! I saw two adult loons the other day, with one of them carrying its young on its back. Soooo cute! What good parents 🖤🤍❤️
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!❤
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.
5:09 Why, yes; yes, I have. I'm currently domiciled in the great state of Minnesota (the fabled land of 10,000 lakes) and am, at present, snugly situated between three Loon waters. I've enjoyed Loon-filled evenings & nights in much of New England & New York State, as well. I've been diving in Peru, Massachusetts, and had Loons come piercing down to bottom, curious to see me and hoping (I think) I'd bolt some fishies out of cover.
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 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!
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
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.
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.
We were on vacation last week on a lake with a loon family. The adults were always near the two chicks. The chick's were trying to learn how to dive. I watched them kick their tiny legs to try to dive with their parents. It was so cute. We gave them wide berth and enjoyed listening to their calls in the morning and evenings.
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! :)
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!
Well, that is interesting: that the presence of loons indicates clean, clear water! That was new to me. I have a friend I occasionally kayak with (in southern NH, USA) and we often see loons. Seeing them never ceases to feel magical!
Was fortunate to hear loons on two camping trips. The first was in Northern Idaho. The second at a lake near Crater Lake. I love them, especially their call. Thanks!
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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.
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 favorites. Nothing says wilderness like the call of a loon
I think that Loons are the most exquisite birds on the planet. Their feathers, markings and calls are perfection.
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
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🥰🐦
💜 Imagine living next to a lake that sings. 💜
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.
I recently spent a week canoe camping in the Boundary Waters of northern MN. The calls of the Loons was a daily treat.
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.
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.
Love the Loon’s calls too. Impressed also by their underwater swimming.
The gorgeous loon reminds me of family trips to New Hampshire, and the loon calls as the evening sky glowed with pink and purple.
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.
This bird has the most epic call of any bird by a very very long way! 😱
Oh my gosh I didn’t know
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.
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!!!!
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 🙂🐦
My absolute favorite..😍the boundary waters in MN is a hotbed of these beauteous buddies..such beautiful calls they Make..❤️
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
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.
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!
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 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...
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.
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 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!!!
I love the echo of their calls across the water… I have never heard it in person but someday….!
Drawn by their call, I first visited and then moved to Maine. That powerful!
Beautiful state !
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.
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.
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 live in upstate NY and they're beautiful birds with a soothingly haunting call. Especially watching them during twilight. Thanks for the post!
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.
The loons on Devils lake in Michigan have brought me peace. Love these sounds.
Childhood memories. 💓
I love that. Wonderful ❤️🐦
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.
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
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.
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 .
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.
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
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!
This brings back nostalgic memories of northern Minnesota. I love this bird!
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.
Absolutely no words to explain how beautiful this bird is!
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.
We live near a small lake in Alberta Canada. My favorite part of evening is listening to the loon.
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...
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'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 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.
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
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.
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.
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. 🙂🐦
It never ceases to amuse me an my ranger friend when we hear loons in movies as wolf howels or some sort of spooky creature and/or when the calls are in areas where Loons don't live. 😅
I watched the loon nest cam for the first time this year. Just beautiful and love their calls.
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.
Beautiful looking birds. So sleek and elegant under water. I loved this video 💜
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed
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
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.
I have only heard loons 2 times in my life. Both I count as among the most amazing experiences in nature I’ve ever witnessed. The first was on a secluded lake in Northern Idaho. The second was at another secluded lake in Oregon. Both times I was camping, so I got extended experiences. Magical, I’d say.
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
Thanks for bringing back memories of my 19 years living near a lake in northern Maine. I do miss the loons.
Our pleasure!
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.
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
Happy to drop by…
Sending love and light to all…🙏🏼
Every summer we head off to the Adirondacks for a week or so and never miss the call of the Loon. Among my favorite memories.
This video was a return to my childhood, the loons call wow, thank you Lesley 😄❤️
Yes their calls are very hauntingly beautiful…and that sunset shot!!! Wow! Great video!♥️
Thank you Sherry
Yay!! Thank you for making a video on the common loon! They are my favorite! I saw two adult loons the other day, with one of them carrying its young on its back. Soooo cute! What good parents 🖤🤍❤️
I have not been lucky enough to witness that yet but just from pictures I can see how adorable it is 🐦🙂 I'm glad you enjoyed the video
As a kid my family would take vacations in northern MN. Loved the loon call early in morning on lake of glass! Just perfect!
The patterns on their back/wings are sooo pretty~💞
Thank you for sharing this video~🤗
I grew up in MN and loved seeing and hearing loons when we went hiking, camping, or fishing. Thanks for the video, it brought back good memories ❤
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!❤
The most beautiful sound on the water! And my favorite bird, among many others. Lol
Just saw our local pair of loons and their new chick last week while kayaking. Such striking birds, and love their calls.
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
The sound is very comforting to me. Reminds me visiting the lakes in northern Minnesota. You always knew you were up north when you heard a loon.
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. 🐦
Absolutely love the Loons and their calls. Beautiful birds. They are very calming when they call. Love your videos. Thx
5:09 Why, yes; yes, I have. I'm currently domiciled in the great state of Minnesota (the fabled land of 10,000 lakes) and am, at present, snugly situated between three Loon waters.
I've enjoyed Loon-filled evenings & nights in much of New England & New York State, as well.
I've been diving in Peru, Massachusetts, and had Loons come piercing down to bottom, curious to see me and hoping (I think) I'd bolt some fishies out of cover.
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 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!
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
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
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 :)
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
The Loon is absolutely one of my favourite birds❗️
We were on vacation last week on a lake with a loon family. The adults were always near the two chicks. The chick's were trying to learn how to dive. I watched them kick their tiny legs to try to dive with their parents. It was so cute. We gave them wide berth and enjoyed listening to their calls in the morning and evenings.
Aww that is so precious. I would love to see that, and how nice of you to be considerate to them. :)
Great memories of summer camp in Algonquin Park, Ontario. Loved hearing these birds.
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! :)
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!
Well, that is interesting: that the presence of loons indicates clean, clear water! That was new to me. I have a friend I occasionally kayak with (in southern NH, USA) and we often see loons. Seeing them never ceases to feel magical!
Was fortunate to hear loons on two camping trips. The first was in Northern Idaho. The second at a lake near Crater Lake. I love them, especially their call. Thanks!