This is a photo of a loon, sitting on her eggs, on an artificial loon nesting platform that I built in 1996. She is in an "in hiding" pose, the first sign of feeling threatened, stretched almost flat on her nest, providing a low, hard to see, profile. This "in hiding" pose works better on a natural nest that isn't so obvious (the artificial nest can be easily be seen for some distance). However it did fool me when she first started nesting in 1997 (she didn't take to the nest in 1996). The nest is sitting about 500 feet from my house and I normally watch the loon with binoculars or a spotting scope. Shortly after she nested that year, the loon seemed to have disappeared for some time. Worried, I ventured out in my canoe and saw her in this repose. I thought she might be dead or perhaps fainted in the heat, she was so still. However when I got a bit too close, she perked up and gave a call. I backed away and she settled back down to being in hiding.
As noted in the previous loon photo, this photo was taken from a distance using a high power telephoto lens.
For more information about the artificial loon nesting platform, including details of how to build one, see my Loon Nest Page.
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