BEHAVIOR (HABITS)
- has difficulty walking on land, shuffles along, body close to the ground
- often uses the same nesting site every year
- nest is built close to water so adult can slip in and out of nest into the water
- preens feathers to make the feathers water-repellant
- chicks sit on parent's back to rest, stay warm and for protection
- chicks "hitchhike" for about two weeks
calls (uses four calls to communicate)
- wail (haunting sound) used to keep in contact with other loons,
heard in evening - listen (mp3)
- tremolo (like a crazy laugh) if alarmed, when "dancing" on the water,
also in flight - listen (10Kb wav)
- yodel ( performed by male, to defend territory, nesting site,
or chicks) serves as a warning, means you are too close -
listen (104Kb wav)
- hoot (sounds more like hoo) used by family to
talk to each other -
listen (mp3)
food
- pointy bill is used to stab or grasp prey
- feeds on small fish,
crayfish, frogs, snails, salamanders and leeches
- may fly to different lakes to feed
drawing of loon swimming
swimming and diving
- always in water, goes on land only for nesting
- can float low in the water so as not to be seen
- first peeks underwater moving head from side to side to find prey
then dives after it
- when diving keeps wings tight against the body and pushes with webbed
feet to make sharp turns while chasing fish
- dives then returns to the surface several hundred metres away
- can remain under water for a minute and dive as deep as 80m (260 ft)
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