Looking for Loons in all the right places

Chasing loons is not something most people do, especially in a canoe in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, but some river rats think it’s all about the chase.

No problem for some down state folks, trying to get as close as they can for a good camera shot of a loon family, with a cheap camera, bad paddles and binoculars that are left over from a four week expedition on an Earth Watch stint whale watching in Hawaii in the early 90s. Well here’s our story of this beautiful aquatic bird on a camping venture just over the boarder of Alger County - home of Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore.

Enter in character number one - a women who loves nature but can’t tolerate it without her good bottle of wine and fashion designer sunglasses from Macy’s. Second person on the scène is a wood tick from down state who thinks he is a mountain man and believes he was born in the Yukon Territory, which he could probably convince most people he is, but his parents have real documentation. What a team!

Now that the scene is set, not quite Escanaba in the moonlight, but you get the picture. While enjoying the UP air and great camping and, oh, the mesquites in July! Character number one says let’s go for a row one late evening in July to see the sunset and maybe even catch a quick photo op of some kind of nature thing… emphasis on thing! 

The wood tick agrees and drags along the fishing poles, worms and whatever else it is that he deems necessary to catch some wild life, in this case fish, for dinner. Oh and bring that so called camera tweaks city girl with cocktail in hand. And off they go into the sunset on one of MANY wonderful lakes in the region.

Photo by Tim Jobson

The water is calm, the air is still and cooling down and there is one loon diving and swimming the cool relaxed waters. Soon after a few paddle strokes into the lake the couple watches the one loon and within a short time after watching and paddling closer to the lone loon… out from shore swims a second loon with baby loon in tow. The male loon start heading toward the other two and when they reach each other they do a quick peck and a group hug! WOW it all happens right there within 20 feet of the canoe.

This is why the Munising area of Michigan is wonderful - nature at its best all the time every day. The wood tick got the photo, mostly because the cocktail tooting lady was able to quietly row the canoe within a close range to snap these photo[s].

We love Munising and all the natural beauty the area offers. Regardless of who and where we are from, we thank you for the fond memories and these amazing photo opportunities.