When are my Loons coming back?

I am counting the days to my beloved Loons' return. I promise to be a good loon ranger. I promise to pick up any discarded fishing line I find in the lake. I promise to shoot my photos from a comfortable distance. Hopefully they find all my promises acceptable. (And yes - my friends and family still laugh about the fact that I'm a Michigan Loon Ranger. I wish I had authority to fine them penalities!)

We're headed up to the log cabin. My hubby had a rough week at work with a bad ex-employee so I think a weekend of snow shoeing and birdwatching is just what the doctor ordered. Have a good weekend and I will catch up with all of your blogs on Sunday. (Maybe a few before then if the dial up at the cabin doesn't drive me crazy first!

Common Loon Taking Off

I am going to forewarn you, I took about 200 Loon photos this past week. (These were the pair of Loons and their babies that I'm watching over as a Loon Ranger.) I spent several hours Thursday morning following them at a distance and snapping as many photos as possible. This and probably next week will be LOON WEEK for my blog. I can't wait to show you the babies. Here's a photo of the male Loon taking off from Big Bradford Lake in Gaylord. They run across the water to pick up speed and then they are able to take off and fly. It was amazing to witness!

I'm a Loon Ranger!

I would like to introduce you to my new little friends I will be watching over "officially" in my new capacity as a Loon Ranger. As some of you may already know, I am just crazy about the Loons (no pun intended) and I worry about their decreasing population, especially in Michigan. So I got to thinking how I could help and thought about the returning Loon pair that is on a bordering lake to our log cabin. Next thing you know - I'm contacting the Michigan Loonwatch and they assign me to the pair I've come to know and love. I'm reading over the manual and looking forward to reporting on their activities as well as tracking their progress a little more closely from my kayak. The pictures below are the first shots I have of their 2 babies (I was far away on shore unfortunately) - I hope to post better ones soon. I feel like a proud mom as well as a lioness who will defend and protect her cubs. Now I just need some names for them....