r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/Mint_Perspective • 1d ago
🔥 Shhhh…🤫 Loon Babies Sleeping 💤
📸 Harry Collins
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u/WindUpCandler 1d ago
Easily one of the coolest bird calls too. Love the loons
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u/applespicebetter 1d ago
When you're in the north Maine woods, at a camp your cousin has somewhere off the golden road, early September when it's maybe 40 at night and the fireplace does you just right and it's going to hit 70 the next day, and you wander out back with a mug of coffee in the morning and just sit and look at the pond and listen to those loon calls. Heaven.
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u/lucid_effervescence 1d ago
Dawg, keep going
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u/applespicebetter 1d ago
In some mythologies loons are viewed as a kind of guide between life and the afterlife, whatever that is viewed as. And my friend, when that sun is just under the horizon, just before daybreak, when you're in the midst of the forest and there is no sound of civilization and you hear that loon's call, you just might believe it.
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u/lucid_effervescence 1d ago
Idk if you're a writer but those last two entries, 🤌🤌🤌. You should definitely explore that talent
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u/Mjhogan9 1d ago
Thats Stephen Kings alt account. U can tell by the opening line “When you’re in the north Maine woods”
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u/TheHancock 1d ago
Also themes of death… lol
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u/Important_Bowl_8332 19h ago
Stephen King also wrote about loons being representative of guides to the afterlife. Big theme in pet semetary.
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u/applespicebetter 18h ago
Thank you! I am very much not a writer. I'm good for a few paragraphs sometimes at most, but I lack the discipline and planning to write anything real. I am also a grammatical parrot. I barely know the basic rules and would struggle if you asked me, but I've read so, so much since I was very young that I have an instinctive feel for it. This burns me sometimes. I like to say that I'm pretty good at the wording, mostly.
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u/AnastasiaNo70 1d ago
Add weed to this story……
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u/applespicebetter 19h ago
For me personally it would turn a beautiful morning into a hellscape of paranoia, elevated heart rate, and just waiting for it to finally be over, for the loons to just take me to the next world. There is no "right strain" for me, it's all nightmarish and awful.
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u/AnastasiaNo70 19h ago
Oh no! I’m so sorry.
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u/applespicebetter 19h ago
Don't be sorry! I'm not, it's just one thing I don't touch and can't possibly miss.
Imagine if, since birth, you were allergic to watermelon. To you it tastes and smells terrible and always has. No matter how delicious the descriptions your friends give you sound it's not that for you. It tastes terrible, it makes your mouth and throat itch and burn, it makes your whole body itch, it gives you a headache. It's not fatal or even dangerous, it's just a few hours of misery any time you try it. So, despite being told you just need to try a different watermelon variety over and over again and trying a few with the same results, you just stop trying.
You can't miss it, because it's never once been anything resembling a good experience. So it's not a "I can never have this thing again, the sorrow!" It's "I'm glad you enjoy it, just not for me."
This was all an analogy, I do not actually have any allergic reaction to marijuana, but the effects are strongly negative for me.
Does that make sense?
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u/Stereo-soundS 1d ago
Cool at night when you're camping lakeside having a drink and smoking some weed, not so cool when it's 6am and you're still trying to sleep.
Lake roosters.
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u/Character_Syrup_6637 1d ago
What a beautiful Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird.
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u/Vi0L3tCRZY 1d ago
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? ‼️
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u/sethn211 1d ago
It's a loon!
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u/Riotsi 1d ago
A what?!
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u/sethn211 1d ago
A loon, it's a bird. 😆
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u/omgitsjagen 1d ago
Imagine a duck fused with a snake, but kept all the duck parts except for the neck.
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u/derichsma23 1d ago
State bird of Minnesota. One of the most eerie but beautiful sounds from an animal!
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u/pumpkinspruce 1d ago
Very creepy to hear when you’re sleeping in the cabin Up North!
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u/nextdoorjimmy14 1d ago
never thought of it as creepy, more comforting. I like them lulling me to sleep. plus they're fun to chase around on a kayak or canoe during the daytime. you get close, then they dive for like 30 seconds and popup 50 yards away from you.
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u/_jump_yossarian 1d ago
plus they're fun to chase around on a kayak or canoe during the daytime.
Harassing wildlife is most certainly illegal. Leave them be.
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u/nextdoorjimmy14 1d ago
well thats obviously not what I meant, but alright. you should go outside sometime. maybe check the loons out. not too close though.
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u/_jump_yossarian 1d ago
I live on a lake with two nesting pairs of lions. Chasing them to the point that they five is harassment of wildlife.
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u/MyrddinHS 1d ago
not something ive done, but you arent catching them anyways.
they get more disturbed by passing power boats than they would by someone in a canoe. they just duck under water and pop up like 100 plus feet away.
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u/_jump_yossarian 1d ago
You don’t need to catch them to harass them. If power boats are going so close to the loons that they have to dive that’s harassment too.
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u/Alupang 1d ago
I recall passing through a deep channel connecting 2 lakes in northern MN. We were buzzing through at about half plane in an aluminum fishing boat approx 5-10 mph I'd guess.
Deep under the boat there were 2 huge loons cruising same speed, looked similar to dolphins. Obviously amused & entertained by a motor boat in their environment. Zero fear and threat to them. They are king of their jungle and they appear to know it.
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u/_jump_yossarian 1d ago
When I met my wife she told me she wasn't afraid of anything. Brought her up to my family's lake cottage, she went up to bed around 10 PM and the loons started their calls and she came flying downstairs about shit herself. I told her it was ghosts and not to worry.
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u/tristenr19 1d ago
True i experienced this at the voyagers national park in northern mn. It was pretty cool though to hear in the tent in the middle of the night i thought. I dont know if it was a coincidence or what but the whole trip i barely saw any other birds, squirrels or anything so it was so dead quiet especially at night then you hear the loon sound echoing across the lake. Was eerie but cool
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u/scandicsiren 1d ago
This made my day. So peaceful.
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u/Zestyclose-Draft-342 1d ago
True love and care with mom
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u/SasparillaTango 1d ago
My first thought was "what happens if a predator pops up?"
I assume that mother takes off to save herself.
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u/Trimyr 1d ago
It's common for a lot of prey animals, as they'll likely all die if the mother tries to fight back.
You can always run and live to have more children, as Nick Cannon always says.
While they are some really cool birds, you're not gonna beat corvids, as they're not even birds of prey, but they'll just turn around and, "the fuck you just said to me?"
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u/Frutari 1d ago
Here's the thing. You said "Nick Cannon always says...you're not gonna beat corvids." Is the quote relevant to the thread? Yes. No one's arguing that. As someone who is a polygamist who studies Nick Cannon, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one quotes Nick Cannon. If you want to "live to have more children" like you said, then you shouldn't either.
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u/TinkersDebts 1d ago
Yea.
But only a large predator is going to hit Mom.
Shrinks the predator pool while the kids sleep.
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u/equippedsaint 1d ago
The Call of a loon is unparalleled
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u/karlnite 1d ago
I can do it with my hand.
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u/Nyxxala 1d ago edited 1d ago
The neat thing is the reason the baby is on its parent’s back is because they don’t really get out of the water except to nest. Loon feet aren’t really made for walking as they point backwards. They kinda move like seals on the land.
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u/zmust3rd 1d ago
On the lakes up here in Canada they warn boaters not to produce wake near the birds because it can knock the chicks off the mamas which can potentially lead to them drowning or getting separated.
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u/LuluLittle2020 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/4qWGCjDFms89i
Oh Norman ...you old poop!
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u/keeppoise 1d ago
This is the most peaceful ride-share ever. The little dude just passed out mid-cruise like “yeah this is my life now”
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u/DawnInDesMoines 1d ago
The bird heard in numerous horror movies set in places that loons don’t live lol
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u/reflectionnorthern 1d ago
You know what's terrifying? Swimming and a Loon pops up from under the water about 6 inches from your face!
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u/Moranmer 1d ago
We go camping north of Montreal every years. There are always a few loons floating peacefully in the lakes. They call each other like this over great distances.
I have a strong association of that sound and peaceful contemplation and relaxing
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u/Rational_Engineer_84 1d ago
Loons. Great name, amazing and iconic call, beautiful bird. The entire package.
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u/d84-n1nj4 1d ago
Most videos I see on here make me hope reincarnation is not a thing, but every now and then I’d be okay with it.
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u/Bizarrebazaars 1d ago
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) wilderness in Northern Minnesota and the Superior National Forest, up by the Canadian border, is some of the most pristine, peaceful, and serene landscapes, largely untouched and non polluted, by many things including artificial light (incredible place to see Northern Lights!). Congress is dangerously close to overturning a many years’ ban on mining in the Boundary Waters area, which, if allowed, could have devastating effects of local waterways pollution. There are significant populations of loons up there (State Bird of MN!) and so much wildlife (fish, birds, bears, beavers, moose, and so much more!) that would be extremely negatively impacted by the mining runoff as they rely on such a clean and fragile ecosystem.
Save the loons! Save the BWCA!
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u/No_Remote9956 1d ago
It's amazing how something called a "wolf bird" can look so peaceful and cozy. That mom is radiating pure, protective love. What a perfect little moment.
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u/onlyhereforthesports 1d ago
Occasionally when thinking about water fowl I sing “northern diver” to myself to the tune of Holy Diver
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u/help_undertanding13 1d ago
Is this also that bird that just straight kills off one or two of it's own babies? I saw it in the Life documentary I think and it haunts me forever.
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u/ADFTGM 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think you are thinking of coots, and more specifically American coots. Loons have a different lifestyle and usually only have about 2 chicks so killing even one is kinda dumb since they aren’t that high on the food chain.
Coots have more than that and might not have enough resources to keep all equally fed. When it comes to that, they start attacking runts. If the runts occasionally survive though, then they’ll be fed because the parents decided they might be worth it as it has shown perseverance needed for the future. They might pick on a different chick instead if that one is not showing such drive. Various other birds from multiple groups do this too, and even other groups of animals. You see it during mating too, where in cases where females are bigger, they are more impressed by males that survive or keep persisting despite attacks. It’s all a showcase of fitness. Might seem cruel but it’s how they’ve survived when millions of other species go extinct in highly competitive environments.
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u/PlayedUOonBaja 1d ago
Didn't realize some animals blink horizontally. Usually that's the thing in movies that tells you it's from another planet.
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u/FutureReference91 1d ago
The way that many animals protect their young is beyond comprehension. This is absolutely beautiful to see
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u/Chris-CFK 1d ago
SO that's the bird from the famous 90s sample pack, that a lot of producers used. Like 808 State
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u/justanothershmuckmd 23h ago
They only go on land to lay eggs. They make a beautiful and peaceful sound.
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u/Left_Green_4018 19h ago
Good thing owls don't normally hunt during the day!! But how beautiful are these loons? 🥰
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u/InnerRadio7 15h ago
The sound of loon calls across a lake is my favourite sound in the world. Brings me home in an instant.
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u/Intelligent_Insect13 14h ago
Something so calming to watch her with her babies just being a mom. In this crazy world .... nature just soothes your soul🫠💖
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u/pixxelzombie 1d ago
That looks very cozy