Beautiful Loon Wild and Free Again

Diving birds have legs that are set far back on their bodies, as you can see in some of the photos of an uncommonly beautiful “Common Loon” which came into our Wildlife Education & Rehabiliation Program this week. The placement of the legs and feet on these birds is ideal for propelling them through the water and diving for dinner, but not so great for walking. In fact, some of these birds can’t even walk on land and they require open water for proper take-off.

The loon in these photos was picked up from a ditch in town of Wellington with no major injuries -- just a scratch on the foot, perhaps due to a struggle to take off from a hard surface.

Once Lake Erie Nature & Science Center's rehab staff had a chance to check out the injuries and determine the bird is largely in good health, the best course of action was to get this loon back to open water. In this case, we released this bird on Lake Erie. There, take off and landing should be smooth sailing.

We generally see these birds during the spring and fall migration seasons since NE Ohio is right on the edge of the territory that provides their northern summer nesting grounds.

Thanks to our new Seasonal Wildlife Specialist, Tim Jasinski, who took the photos of this Common Loon that's now wild and free again.