Loon's ability to walk ?
Bill Richardson
can appreciate that they probably are not marathon walkers, but not at all?
He seemed convinced. Does anyone have any thoughts and info on this .
Thanks
Leon Fisk
Yes they can walk on land, but poorly...
What your friend may be thinking of is their ability to take
off/fly. They need to be on water in order to pickup enough
speed for flight. Rain slicken roads can sometimes fool them
into landing, causing them to become stranded. No water
surface to use to re-launch themselves...
Check out the following url from Cornell if you still have
any doubts.
http://birds.cornell.edu/BOW/COMLOO/
--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI
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Katrina Knight
That depends on how you want to define 'walk'. Loons can move on land by
moving their legs, but it isn't exactly what you normally think of as
walking. It is more like they push themselves along rather than standing
upright. Ther legs are so far back on their bodies that their bodies
aren't balanced correctly for walking abd their breasts tend to be on the
ground when they are standing. There are several species of loons and some
of them are a bit better at moving on land than others. In general, loons
do not move on land any more than they have to.
--
Katrina
MEAWE229
Loons spend little time on land and have to pull themselves onto land to nest.
They generally move one foot at a time to walk, shuffling along with their
breast close to the ground. On return to the water, the loon slides in along
its breast and stomach.
Rick Thompson
<wmr...@cfl.rr.com> wrote:
>A friend told me that loons are unable to walk and can only swim or fly.
My comments apply to the common loon, which is the only kind with
which I'm familiar:
They can move on land, but it's a stretch to call what they do
"walking". Their feet are so far back on their bodies (in order to
give them maximum propulsion and steering power underwater), that they
just sort of push themselves along, taking painfully (or so it
appears) labored strides, and taking forever to get where they are
going. Since they can't take off from land, they are extremely
vulnerable while doing this, so you won't see it often.
The only reason I've seen them do this is because I live on a spit of
land next to a sort of causeway which separates a lake from a marshy
pond. The pond has great habitat for a loon nest, but is much too
small for them to take off from, and probably doesn't contain enough
fish to feed a loon family. The lake is big enough for takeoffs and
has lots of fish, but has no good nest sites.
Each year, a pair of loons nests on the pond. They do their ridiculous
step-and-shove routine every day to get to the lake to fish and to
take off to do whatever they do when they leave and fly around (it's
about a 100' trip from pond to lake). When the chicks are big enough
to "walk" and swim on their own, one of the adults makes the crossing,
and then, when it's determined the coast is clear, it calls to its
mate to accompany the chicks across.
It's been years since the local loon pair has successfully raised a
chick long enough for it to head south in the fall. I suspect the
danger of making that crossing may have something to do with it. Last
season, I never saw a chick at all, so they may not even have tried.
--
Rick Thompson, in northwestern Wisconsin
Bill C.
Anyone over 30 from Canada knows the answer to this question by rote,
because of an old educational TV ad series called "Hinterland Who's Who" put
on by the Cdn. Wildlife Service. As above, they are magnificent divers,
able swimmers but terrible walker/waddlers.
Surprisingly, loons are not related to ducks. But are a much more ancient
race of birds running I believe to millions of years old.
Bill C.
"Rick Thompson" <gre...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
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Bill C.
The reason they are so poor at walking, by the way, is the placement of
their legs almost at the very back of their bodies. This makes for
excellent propulsion under water, but not so good on land.
BC
Andrew Longtin
is freezing up and there is not enough room on the lake to take off and fly south, I think last year
or the year before they had a couple of people out in a boat trying to net a loon that kept diving
in the last open spot on this lake, before they tried a Bald Eagle was giving it a go if I remember
right..
--
Andrew Longtin
Corcoran, MN
http://home.att.net/~alongtin/Index.htm
ALongtin *at* worldnet *dot* att *dot* net
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