July 2, 2011

The loon chick has made it through its  most precarious first few days, even with lots of lake activity due to the great weather over this holiday weekend.  This evening the family came by again for an evening fishing trip, and the chick is already noticeably larger - its parents must be feeding it well. 

They seem to be giving it a little more space now, with the little guy hurrying along behind as fast as it can.  I'm surprised that both parents almost always dive together, leaving the chick alone on the surface - maybe they team up to scare their prey towards each other.

We saw them feed the chick a couple of small fish; each time a parent came up, the chick would hurry over to see if it had a meal.  It looked as though the adult injured one minnow, and then put it in the water next to the chick so it could learn how to grab it for itself. 

When one parent came up with a large fish, the chick wanted that one too, but no, this fish was kept by its owner. 

I had to put in this picture of a cormorant, taken early in the morning with the sun low on the bird - it shows its well-adapted feet, with webs for swimming, yet still able to grasp tree branches for roosting.