Below you will see a burst of images that captures the typical behavior of Common Loons when they perform a wing flap . These images were captured last weekend on Horseshoe Lake near Parry Sound, Ontario. Every single time I have observed them doing this they seem to follow the same routine. They sink a little lower in the water and slowly spread their wings, rise higher in the water to flap their wings and then they give their head a shake prior to settling back onto the water’s surface. This all happens rather quickly. In about 2 seconds. As I observed this loon sink into the water slightly, I prepared for a wing flap and readied myself for a burst of images. As the wing flap began I pressed the shutter for about 2 seconds shooting roughly 10 frames. My camera is slow by today’s standard and only shoots 5 frames per second, but it was all that was needed to capture this sequence of images. When observing the critters that I like to photograph I always try to learn the little subtle movements that are a prelude to typical behaviors such as this.
Hope you like the images.
Preparing for the wing flap
The wing-flap
The headshake
Settling back down after the wing-flap
Andrew McLachlan 