This year, one of my special projects was to spend from May until October following 4 pairs of nesting loons. In years past, I had photographed them when they had young chicks as in this shot, but this year I continued on until fledging in October when the loons leave the inland ponds and migrate to the ocean for the winter. This particular loon family was the closest drive for me, and I made many visits until this chick finally hatched in mid-July, which is pretty late. I later learned from a lake resident that the reason was that the first nest failed after parents got into a fight with an intruder loon and had to start again. This pair was less comfortable with my presence than other loon families I photographed so I only made this one visit where I captured this shot. After I learned the backstory I decided to leave them alone in peace for the rest of season since they already had enough stress.
