I started this painting back in 2019 after a long anticipated experience watching a loon lifting their wings up from the water just like the lucky loonie. When I was young I used to love listening to the loons on the lake while canoeing late in the evening. I have seen them many times but never had the opportunity to see them and photograph them behavi
ng this way. 

 

On this day we saw a bird far out on a small lake too far to even know what type of bird it was. It appeared to be in distress and knowing that this was a very popular fishing lake with plenty of fishing line and other discarded "garbage" we were worried. It kept splashing about in the water as if something was holding it down. It would leap out of the water and spin quickly like a synchronized swimmer. Eventually it came close enough that we could see it was a loon, I was in awe and so excited though still concerned.

 

The bird kept going and going. Now lifting is wings just like the lucky loonie.  I was so thrilled to get photos of this incredible event though I had no idea what made them do this. It went on so long I was really worrying about the bird. We backed away even though we were not very close then noticed an osprey in a nearly tree, it's perch was directly above some excellent nesting ground for loons. The puzzle begins to reveal itself. There had to be a connection.

 

When I got home I did some research about this "Loon Dance" and found out that it is a stress response. They were worried about the osprey being near the nest and their dance is very much like when a killdeer drags it wing to feign weakness. Offering up themselves as prey  instead of their babies, they are trying to distract the prey animal to protect their young.

 

If you see a loon doing this it is important to back away just in case you are the cause, loons are so motivated to protect their young that they will do this to exhaustion and may die as a result. Amazing and sad at the same time. Thankfully for this loon the osprey flew away and he was able to calm down. 

 

I realized something about myself with this painting. I will likely never paint an animal showing the ugly and vicious part of nature as that is not what I see and love about wildlife. We choose to put these moments on our walls because it is so wonderful to look up and feel that moment again and again.   Though I knew that this was a stressful moment for the loon I chose instead to paint  him in a much happier and calming light just like that lucky loonie we all have come to know and love. Almost every painting I do is based on my personal experience with an animal in nature. Moments when I look in awe at these animals behaving as they would normally in their habitat.