An Escape Artist
by Don Mercer
Title
An Escape Artist
Artist
Don Mercer
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
When visiting Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota one August, the optimum means of getting around was by boat. So I bought a couple local area maps and rented a small boat. My introduction to wildlife on the lake that day, as I entered Lake Kabetogama, was a single loon that proved to be most evasive. As I closed a bit in order to shoot, this loon dove and then popped up within feet of my boat. After turning to face the loon and shoot, it dove once again, but I had no idea where it would surface next. This exercise went on for some fifteen minutes before I got a few acceptable images. The trick was not actually getting sufficiently close to shoot, but attempting to predict just where this critter would surface next. This image is of the common loon (Gavia immer), the state bird of Minnesota. Unlike most birds, the loon has solid bones. This fact is both a pro and con: solid bones allow it to dive as deep as 250 feet in search of its principal food source, small fish; but the added weight requires a lengthy "runway" of 100 to 600 feet to get airborne. Its red eye assists in seeing prey underwater. (Source: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)
Uploaded
April 4th, 2016
Statistics
Viewed 123 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 2:44 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments
There are no comments for An Escape Artist. Click here to post the first comment.