Loon

We found this guy on a quiet paddle up the creek sitting on it's own private island. I'm not sure if it was nesting, or just relaxing. We paddled right past it without noticing it until I decided to look back at the island which was only about 5 square feet. This is a good example of camouflage that arose in two separate environments in the same species. Firstly, the common loon spends a great deal of time floating on top of water, as well as swimming below the surface. The white stripes and dots on it's back closely resembles the scattering of direct sunlight from the surface of the water, as well as the projected interference pattern of the troughs of waves focused on the lake floor. Secondly, you can see how the very same patterns break up the silhouette of the animal and have the effect of blending the bird into the reeds and leaves common in it's water centric habitat. In my photos, the colour of the white on the bird is slightly different from the light coloured reeds on the shore, but for many predators, as well as prey animals, have different levels of colour vision, some purely black and white. The colour however is less important than the contrasting patterns of light and dark. Animals don't reproduce for thousands of years with such a pattern unless it has also assisted them in avoiding predators, facilitated the hunting of prey, or some other such advantage. When the bird noticed us, it quietly put it's beak into the water, and to me it looks very similar to the tree branches on the shore. Fantastic!

I am curious as to the possibility that these patterns might also assist in much the same way that the zebra has recently been discovered to have adopted interference patterns to ward of biting insects. For those that would like to read further about this, BBC Nature touches on this idea briefly, in terms of the zebra.

I hope you will join me looking at photos of one of the most beautiful looking, and sounding creatures of Ontario. Enjoy!

-David Williams

Common Loon

Common Loon

Common Loon

Common Loon

Common Loon

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