A Chick’s Journey
Loon chicks can swim and dive within their first week, but rely on their parents for warmth and food and sometimes, just transportation.
They often ride on their parents' backs for warmth and protection during the first few weeks. Initially, parents provide all of the food, but chicks gradually start catching their own. You may even observe a parent purposely dropping a minnow directly in front of the chick to teach it how to catch its own food. By about five weeks, chicks can catch about half of their own food but still beg for food from their parents.
A loon chick is considered fledged around 11-12 weeks old when it can fly. By then, it is supposed to be largely independent, although it will continue begging for food from its parents until the parents leave for their winter vacation, generally somewhere along the Maine coast.
Loon chicks typically leave their natal lake shortly after their parents and migrate to the coast for the winter where they will spend the next few years before returning to their natal lake or one nearby.
If you have a particular question regarding our Belgrade loon population, please email your inquiry to info@blamaine.org, and we will try to answer your question either in this column or via email.
Dick Greenan is chairman of the Belgrade Lakes Association’s Loon Preservation Project.
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