Sunrise Tremelo

[Randy Stout]

This common loon was imaged last June at sunrise. They were doing one of the classic loon calls, the maniacal tremolo. Because they use their tongue to modulate the call, you can recognize it in a photo. The call is generally an alert or warning call signifying that they are unhappy with an intruder in their territory. It is also used when flying over a new lake to see if there is a resident loon.

Z9. 800 PF. 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1800. Shot off the pedestal in the bottom of my boat.
Slight crop for comp. Removed a few very large speckled highligths.

Comments and critique always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Randy have not seen a Loon posted for a longer time .... but you come up with one :5

Lovely presentation as always , I do like the pose with the visible tongue , the silky smooth water is killer in combo with the very cool shooting angle .
Love the yellowish streak ion the BG .... to break the monotony . Cool colors and well controlled shadows and highlights !!

Top notch work all around

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super shot the colours and tones are ideal the pose is really interesting, I enjoyed the narrative explaining the tongue. The water is just amazing, I don't recall seeing anything like this previously.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the backlighting here Randy, and also the low angle and early-morning feel. The few water drops on top of the loon add interest. Thanks also for the explanation of the tongue's use during the tremolo call. Perhaps a bit better head angle would be good here, but like it as is as well.