Loon Photo courtesy of Lee's Photoblog at http:\/\/wildlife.aminus3.com\/. Make sure you check out all his photos as they are great!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGrowing up, I had the privilege of living on beautiful Kenogami Lake.\u00a0 One of the benefits of living on the lake was falling asleep to the incredible sounds of the common loon.\u00a0 I think the loon has one of the coolest bird calls that I have ever heard, however, I am not here to talk about the loon calls.\u00a0 Nope, today I wanted to discuss the position of the loon’s feet.<\/p>\n
The loon’s\u00a0torpedo-like body makes it look like Michael Phelps in the water; however,\u00a0when it hits the land the loon looks more awkward then a waddling penguin.\u00a0 Throughout evolution, the loon developed its feet very far back on its body.\u00a0 Their feet act like oars which help them swim but make walking very difficult.\u00a0 In fact, while working for the Ministry of Natural Resources I had to deal with several calls about loons being stranded on the side of the highway.\u00a0 A lot of times, after it rains the highway has a shimmer to it that flying loons mistake for water.\u00a0 Once they land on the road they will be in trouble unless they can find a larger water body nearby. Generally, the only time loons will be on land is to lay their eggs.\u00a0 Even during that time they ensure their nests are in the grass close to the lake.\u00a0 Remember, if you see a loon hitch-hiking on the side of the road away from any water body, they might be in trouble. Perhaps it would be a good idea to call your local government or animal control to help out the loon and return it to the lake where it can be graceful once again.<\/p>\n
Loon Fast Fact<\/em><\/strong> – Loons need a waterbody at least 10 acres in size in order to take off.\u00a0 The loon\u2019s bones are solid which makes them very heavy so they need a long runway.\u00a0 You may have seen a loon running along the water to try and take flight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up, I had the privilege of living on beautiful Kenogami Lake.\u00a0 One of the benefits of living on the lake was falling asleep to the incredible sounds of the common loon.\u00a0 I think the loon has one of the coolest bird calls that I have ever heard, however, I am not here to talk about the loon calls.\u00a0 Nope, today I wanted to discuss the position of the loon’s feet. The loon’s\u00a0torpedo-like body makes it look like Michael Phelps in the water; however,\u00a0when it hits the land the loon looks more awkward then a waddling penguin.\u00a0 Throughout evolution, the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4024],"tags":[348,113,4026,111,4025,112],"yoast_head":"\n
Walking is no Easy Task for the Loon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Describes how the common loon has a difficult time walking since their feet are so far back on their body.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-978-the-loon-walk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walking is no Easy Task for the Loon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Describes how the common loon has a difficult time walking since their feet are so far back on their body.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-978-the-loon-walk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-22T07:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-15T23:34:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/8f86336458f0a27dee8714b24da91265_large.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"648\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-978-the-loon-walk\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-978-the-loon-walk\/\",\"name\":\"Walking is no Easy Task for the Loon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-22T07:00:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-15T23:34:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4\"},\"description\":\"Describes how the common loon has a difficult time walking since their feet are so far back on their body.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-978-the-loon-walk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/\",\"name\":\"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4\",\"name\":\"Nathan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nathan\"},\"description\":\"I am a digital nomad who enjoys travelling around the globe while inspiring others to leave their comfort zone and improve their life. 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![\"Loon](\"http:\/\/wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/8f86336458f0a27dee8714b24da91265_large-300x243.jpg\" "\\"8f86336458f0a27dee8714b24da91265_large\\"")
<\/a>