Common Loons at Lost Lake

I have been visiting Lost Lake for many years and always it is the Common Loons that fill me with awe. Loons do not find much good breeding habitat in Washington and this lake has been a draw for one pair for as long as I’ve been visiting. Every year there is a nest and it has occasionally failed. Sometimes Bald Eagles snatch the young birds when they are out of the nest but still small. Last year the eagles got one. This year it looks like both young birds have survived, so far. They are growing fast with a diet of fish provided by their parents. They need to grow fast in order to migrate to bigger water for the long cold winter.

I photographed these birds from my boat, not paddling too close but waiting for the birds to get closer to me as I drifted. These birds are often observed from boats and the shore. They are also well-studied with researchers banding the young birds as soon as they are old enough.