Loon Chicks on Caesar Pond-1st week of life

I shot video of the loon chicks through their first week of life. Did you know that for the first two days, the chicks can actually walk on land as their bodies are short enough to place their feet more directly under their bodies? Cool! As they grow longer they lose that ability. And, check out their big feet! It was so much fun to see these chicks zipping around in the water.

When chicks are so young, they cannot regulate their body temperature very well and thus have to ride on their parents' backs periodically. They can swim immediately, but are prey to all kinds of animals. You will see a dramatic scene of a snapping turtle pulling one of the chicks underwater. I did not think it had survived, but Mama bird was somehow able to free it from the turtle. In subsequent photos, I did see a few markings on the chick's chest, but it did not seem to be seriously hurt and acted like nothing had happened.

As chicks near one week of age, they can regulate their body temperature better and stay in the water for longer periods of time. They practice diving and are so cute when they pop back up to the surface!

As always, here is a map of my location from the loons. I used a tripod on land for the entire week. This way, I could be assured of somewhat steady photography without bothering the loons whatsoever. Letter A represents video from when the chicks were 2 days old and for the action scene of 4 days old. Letter B represents video from when the chicks were 4 days old and had been hanging out in the middle of the pond. Letter C represents video from when the chicks were 7 days old (hence the very blurry video.) Anytime the birds were farthest away, the auto focus had difficulty keeping the chicks in focus as they were so small in the distance.