Silvery Juvie loon

[Randy Stout]

This juvie loon was captured last week. He is about three months old at this point, and flying well. Still is happy to eat take out from his parents, but can feed himself as well. They spend a lot more time by themselves , like any teenager, but check in occ. with the adults.

D850. 600VR. f/6.3, 1/800s, ISO 720. Taken sitting on the bottom of my little loon boat.

Post: LR Classic, PS 2020. Slight crop for comp. Sharpening is always a delicate thing with them at this age, as their plumage on head and neck is still quite soft and it is easy to overdo it.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[David Roach]

As you mentioned, the colors and tones, along with the details, are so awesome. TFS

[gail bisson]

Very nice Randy and I like your title!
Different than your other loon shots (different in a good way).
As always, great POV and HA. IQ looks great,
Gail

[Paul Burdett]

Beautiful in every way Randy. Love the softness, pose, HA and silky smooth water. One miniscule nit pic is the blown highlight on the bottom of the upper beak that my eye keeps going to...but it's just me trying to develop my eagle eye!

[Bretoteanu Dan]

I like the way you composed the image, the oof FG and BG focus my eyes on the bird. Nice head angle and catchlight in the eyes and the detail in the plumage is beautifull.

[John Mack]

I like the tones here. The bird matches the water very nicely. Nice pose and low angle as well.

[Arthur Morris]

Dull day, dull bird, but this is one of your finest images. I love the soft tones and the great detail. And the title. Reminds me of Silvery Grebe in the Falklands.

Do you know when this individual hatched? Was this s good year or a bad year for your loons?

with love, artie

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone.

Artie: This juvie is ~ 3months old, give or take a few days. The loon season was uneven in Michigan. I primarily work three different lakes. One had three eggs, which is quite rare, but none of them hatched! I was able to look at one after the nest had been abandoned, and it was infertile. The second lake had no chicks. The adults abandoned the nest early in the season, the black flies were terrible. The third lake had three sets of chicks. At least 3-4 of the chicks survived. The bird above came from that lake.

Randy

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Nice Feather details. I wish golden light on this kind of Image...

TFS