It’s been a crazy year, but one of the perks for me has been working closer to home, and spending more time with family. Last summer, I took on a project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to film the early lives of Common Loons up in Maine, and my children Russell and Jessica, 20 and 16 at the time, were my crew. We maintained our “covid bubble” while working out of a small cabin on Mount Desert Island. Loons are spectacular and fascinating birds, and it was an amazing experience to spend so much quality time with them every day as we worked to tell their story. Russell and I did the filming, and Jessica helped out in the field, made sketches and behavior observations, and then narrated the film. So it was a true family project. We are really happy with the result, and I think you’ll enjoy spending ten minutes with us as we explore the loon’s world. The link is below…. Enjoy!
I’ve also selected a couple of my favorite still frames from the shoot to share here, and you can scroll down further to see a bunch of behind the scenes shots from the trip, and learn a bit more about how we filmed the loons in Maine.
This baby loon emerged from its egg during the night or early morning, and after a few hours in the nest, without ever being fed, walked down the ramp into the water and started swimming after its parents. By afternoon they were feeding it small fish. Loons rarely go on land except to breed. They are strictly water birds, and this chick is no exception. It may never set foot on land again until it begins nesting as a full adult. It was amazing to witness and film the first day of this little chicks life, and the film features a sequence of it being fed its first fish.
