Loons

Discussion in 'Pets & Critters' started by Ken Anderson, Sep 25, 2019.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    Yes, I know. When you saw the title, you probably all thought this thread was going to be about you. But no, it's in the critter section.

    I have been living here in Millinocket since 2000 and, while I have heard loons many times while camping in one place or another, I have never heard them from my backyard until this summer.

    We have a big lake here, on the eastern part of Millinocket, not so far from here but that is where the paper mill was, and there were no loons there. I'm thinking that the mill operations probably ran the loons out of the lake a century ago, The mill has been closed now for about a decade and this summer, for the first time, I have heard the sound of the loons on the lake, and I hear them nearly every night.

    Before I go to bed, I usually take Ella out. I don't let her outdoors at night because of coyotes, fox, raccoons, and other potentially dangerous creatures, but she likes to listen to the night sounds, so I hold her in my arms and let her do that. I refer to it as checking for Martians. I don't think the loons attract her attention at all because I'm pretty sure she has no idea what kind of a creature that might be. Mostly, she's interested in whatever it is that I can't see, but which she can hear rummaging in the compost pile or with something in one of the trees.

    But, nearly every night now, I hear the loons. Of course, with the loons in mind, I am now watching On Golden Pond for about the twelfth time.
     
    #1
  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
  3. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2018
    Messages:
    10,670
    Likes Received:
    20,015
    I love the sound of loons. . Our family took several fishing trips to the North Bay area of Ontario, Canada, in the summer when I was a kid. That's where I first heard them.

    This video supposedly has some young ones, trying to learn how to do the calls, at the beginning.

     
    #3
  4. Micki Pembroke

    Micki Pembroke Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2019
    Messages:
    1,280
    Likes Received:
    2,610
    LOONS.....Don't think there's anything more sireen or Heavenly than the notes of them, unless it's also under a star filled sky, tears almost form from their majestic call. There's a couple of small lakes about a half an hour from the town i live in, Loons make their presence, one lake doesn't allow anything with a motor in the lake, the other one has a marked limit on where motors are allowed. Have being told many times that there is a good population of them, because of the ban of motors, they seem to like the calm waters as opposed to turbulence. Always a joy to go for that drive, and relax and take in the chorus. Never get enough of them.
     
    #4
  5. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    20,311
    Likes Received:
    42,316
    I don't believe I have ever heard the call of a loon in real life. Of course I've seen On Golden Pond about 5 times so there's that. :D
     
    #5
  6. Bess Barber

    Bess Barber Veteran Member
    Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2019
    Messages:
    3,760
    Likes Received:
    7,600
  7. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2018
    Messages:
    6,161
    Likes Received:
    4,368
    "Oh Norman...listen to the Loons!"

    From "On Golden Pond", with Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn, Jane Fonda, and Dabney Coleman, the dentist.
    Hal
     
    #7
  8. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    May 13, 2015
    Messages:
    5,747
    Likes Received:
    7,721
    I've never heard them that I recall. If so I didn't know what they were. I've watched On Golden Pond a couple of time and must have missed the part
    referring to loons, or I didn't know what the person speaking was talking about. My take, mostly, on wildlife has been: you don't bother me and I won't
    bother youse.

    I listened to the tape; never heaerd that sound. If I had, I would have expected someone to say,
    "That sounds like a panther."
     
    #8
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2019
  9. Micki Pembroke

    Micki Pembroke Veteran Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2019
    Messages:
    1,280
    Likes Received:
    2,610
    The first time i heard the call of the Loon, i was in total awe.....so calming and peace inviting...i collected a few cd tracks with their call, with and without Mother Nature in the back round.....i will never forget their call, and never want to forget.
     
    #9
    Ken Anderson and Nancy Hart like this.
  10. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,327
    Likes Received:
    42,631
    Tonight, the loons were carrying on quite a conversation. I felt like I was On Golden Pond.
     
    #10
    Patsy Faye likes this.
  11. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    20,311
    Likes Received:
    42,316
    Did your wife call you an old poop?
     
    #11
    Ken Anderson likes this.
  12. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2015
    Messages:
    13,568
    Likes Received:
    16,301
    Never heard of a Loon and when I heard the call, I couldn't believe it
    Absolutely magical
     
    #12

Share This Page