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Common Loon (Breeding Colors)

Image # 1D2_06951

Raymond Pond, ME (Sebago Lake region)

 

Canon 100-400L/f4.5-5.6 IS @ 400mm

ISO 400, f/8, 1/640 second

Manual Exposure

Handheld

This was the last shot I took, and is basically uncropped - the loon basically filled the frame, indicating how close it allowed me to get.  I had assumed that this was the male, and the other the female, but as I did a little reading, it appears that this one simply shows the bird in breeding colors, and could be male or female.  The other may have been a juvenile, and the coloration difference is quite obvious.  Shortly after this, the two of them dove down, and resurfaced several hundred feet away, which I interpreted as being their saying that the show was over!  So I paddled back to shore, and started downloading my images, very grateful and satisfied with the close-up encounter that this pair of loons allowed me.