Recently-hatched Common Loon Chicks Stay Close to Parents
The first few days of life for Common Loon chicks can be quite precarious. As soon as their down dries, the chicks are quick to leave their nest and enter the water, where they are not as vulnerable as far as land predators are concerned. However, there are dangers there, as well. Young chicks are exceptionally buoyant, and have difficulty maneuvering in the water. Parents must keep a close eye on them, so as to protect them from predators both above and below the water, such as Bald Eagles and Largemouth Bass. For the first two weeks or so parents provide protection for their young by ferrying them around on their backs much of the time. (Note egg tooth still remains on this two-day-old chick.)
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Common Loons: Hatching
Peeps can be heard from inside an egg before the chick starts to crack it open (a process referred to as “pipping”) with its temporary “egg tooth.” The eggs hatch in the order laid, not at the same time. The chicks are covered with sooty black down which is often dry within an hour of hatching. While waiting for the second egg to hatch, the parent loon often takes the firstborn chick for its maiden swim, returning to the nest with the chick to incubate the remaining egg until it hatches. By the third week, the chick’s black down is replaced by brownish-gray down.
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