About the Photo of the Month - October 2003


It's breakfast time on Johnson Lake. A perfect time to for a glimpse of rarely-seen loon behavior.

We've all seen loons from a distance, but occasionally, they allow patient humans to look in on their daily lives at close range. The adult loon in this shot caught a large sunfish moments earlier. The bird appears to play with the fish as it tries to manipulate it into position. For a brief moment, the loon rises up on its feet and flaps its wings. A few moments later, the loon swallows the sunfish head-first and whole. The loon's neck grows larger as the bulge moves from mouth to stomach. It's hard to believe the loon can swallow the fins, bones and scales without ill effect. The baby loon in the foreground doesn't seem to pay attention, having eaten smaller fish earlier in the morning. The shot was taken in late summer, 2003. Please feel free to submit your photo of the month and a brief story about it.





Photograph by Jon Okerstrom

Posted: Wed - October 1, 2003 at 12:12 AM      

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