Common Loon Chick and Mom ~ 2 Months Later

[Jim Fenton]

I originally photographed this chick and it's parents when it was 6 days old back in July.
I was thrilled to find them this past weekend once again with the parents still in summer plumage and the chick now almost the size of the adult.
It is certainly feeding on it's own but it constantly cuts in front of the adults, nipping at their neck and breasts and hissing at them. When it gets to be a real pain, they dive, bring it some food and then it's happy again for a while :) I watched the entire weekend and while I saw mom and dad fly off, at times leaving junior alone, I did not witness this one in flight.

It was truly a thrill to be able to create images again since it was a little chocolate fluff ball when I last saw it.

Nikon D300s, 70-300VR, ISO 640, f10, 1/400, CW metering, NearUniWB, -1EV, late afternoon warm light.

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

Great story, and perfect exposure on the breast. The lighting being from the right really helped show more definition in breast feathers, can see the ribbing nicely. Both eyes look excellent.

I revisited the loons I have been following this year, and found a similar situation, except the adults had started to molt by their mouth.

Cheers

Randy

[gail bisson]

Great story and I am glad you were able to reunite with the family. I like the low angle and the detail in the feathers. Good exposure. I am not fussy about the adult's head position. I wish it was less "head-on". I like the birds position in relation to one another and the juvie's open mouth,
Gail

[Aidan Briggs]

I agree with the positives noted by Randy. Great interaction too. Image does look just a little noisy in some areas.

Looking forward to more loon images!

[dankearl]

I like the HA on the adult, Loons look kind of fake to me anyway, so the head looks fine for this bird.
I would run some NR on the background.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice story, sounds like you had a great outing. Good job on the techs to avoid blowing the whites. I like the interaction and lowish angle. I see what Gail means about the adult's HA, and I too see noise in parts of the image.