Loon with 1-week old chick

[Keith Carver]

In this July 1 photo, the loon chick is 1 week old and has already grown to 43% of adult length. Compare to my post of yesterday where the chick is 2 days old, 21% of adult length. The parents are constantly feeding the chick so it is no wonder its size has doubled in just five days. Although this one managed to crawl aboard the adult, by today July 6, the parents were giving a firm refusal to back rides: juvi too heavy.

Techs: 7D, 700 mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/800 sec, -1.0 EC. Post: opened shadows, smart sharpening on birds, 150 / 0.3, lens blur.

C&C appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Keith:

Excellent exposure, nice head angles, sharp.
I might give a sliver more room in front if you have it.
The colors looks a bit oversaturated, but it certainly is possible that is just how it was.

I have seen a 15-16 day old chick crawl onto the parents back, but they don't get up very far, and don't get to stay very long!

Does this family have just one chick?

Cheers

Randy

[Danny J Brown]

Lovely shot, Keith. That little baby is just along for the ride, enjoying the day. Nice work.

DB

[Keith Carver]

Randy, this family started out with two chicks on June 23 and 24. One was larger and more aggressive than the other, especially about grabbing snacks from the feeding parent. Late on June 24, I was observing and photographing both chicks and both adults, when the smaller chick began to swim out of the file of view, about 60 feet away. Next time I looked, that chick was GONE, probably grabbed by a snapping turtle. Someone told me that of the normal clutch of two, one goes to posterity and one to the turtle. That said, we had two surviving chicks in 2009, one in 2008, two in 2007, and one in 2006 and 2005.

Keith:

Excellent exposure, nice head angles, sharp.
I might give a sliver more room in front if you have it.
The colors looks a bit oversaturated, but it certainly is possible that is just how it was.

I have seen a 15-16 day old chick crawl onto the parents back, but they don't get up very far, and don't get to stay very long!

Does this family have just one chick?

Cheers

Randy