How the Loon Got Its Name?Click on the picture below for a QuickTime animation (1.16Mb) showing a sequence of still images of a Common Loon acting "loony" on Shawnee Mission Park Lake, Johnson County, Kansas. The photos were taken between 3:00 and 3:40 PM on the afternoon of November 21, 2003, using a Nikon CoolPix 4500 camera mounted on a Kowa TSN-824 spotting scope at a combined magnification of approximately 80x. Parts of several almost back-to-back sequences of frenetic rolling, stretching, splash-diving, and running along the water surface (sometimes as far as 50 feet or more) are shown. Several sequences began with the bird swimming normally and then suddenly churning the water along its sides with its feet, as if "revving up." No other birds were nearby during most of this behavior, although at the outset the loon flushed a lone Gadwall. Copyright © 2003 David Seibel – posted November 21, 2003 |