"Come here, Norman. Hurry up. The loons! The loons! They're welcoming us back."

You may recognize that quote from  the 1981 film "On Golden Pond" starring Katherine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, and Jane Fonda.

So it was my self-appointed quest to not only hear loons but also to photograph them on my recent trip to the Bangor area of Maine.

I heard the loons on the second night on the pond by the cabin we were staying in and I immediately thought of the loons from the movie.  It was a big pond and some would say it was a lake, but lakes have an inflow as well as an outlet and this body of water is fed from an underground spring and not from a river - hence it is a pond and not a lake.

Common Merganser

The next day, the loons came in closer to the cabin and I had my camera ready for them!  I'm not sure if there is another more stately looking bird - it's high contrasting black and white coloration, it's sleek low profile, and it's mournful cry - all just seem to say "Here I am; Look at me!"

Bald Eagle

Blue-Headed Vireo

 I was also lucky to observe the loons as they swam underwater looking for fish.

In addition to the common loons, I also observed: a matured bald eagle, a female common merganser with 10 chicks, a few robins, and blue-headed vireo (a life bird for me!).

  

NOTE:  This is another evolutionary step in my blog about birds.  My other bird blogs are:

My Hometown Big Year

Birding 2013 (only did half the year)