July 15 – 21, 2022Vol. 24, No. 6

Swimming Underwater

by Dick Greenan

Here are the questions for the week: Sean wrote in and asked, “How long can loons stay underwater and how fast can they swim underwater? I saw one swim right under our boat this morning.”

Well, Sean, Loons can stay underwater up to 5 minutes and have been clocked underwater at 20 m.p.h.!

A loon swimming underwater in a school of fish.

A Long Pond loon family (2022): 2 adults and 2 chicks.

An adult loon dives for food, while a second adult and a chick wait on the surface.

Dick Greenan is chairman of the Belgrade Lakes Association’s Loon Preservation Project. If you have a particular question regarding our Belgrade loon population, please email your inquiry to info@blamaine.org, and he will try to answer you either in this column or via email.

<– Back Print

Download Full Newspaper: High Res | Low Res (Details…)

<— Previous Article • Summaries • Next Article —>