"Lakes, streams, ponds and marshes have been my favorite places since my childhood. So painting all this "wet" environment was a real thrill. This mother loon is familiarizing her fuzzy chicks with their fascinating new world outside of the nest, helping them to get in the swim of things, so to speak."

IN THE SWIM OF THINGS ( Loon Family )

IN THE SWIM OF THINGS ( Loon Family )
by Carl Brenders
35" by 20½"
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APPROX OUTSIDE FRAME SIZE 45" by 30½"

Conservation Framing
Each double mat may vary from print to print according to which frame you choose. If you would like to
have a particular color of mat just call 1-302-875-2258 to place your order. The best matching color is used for
each individual print and is not always the color shown here.

Each print is framed using Conservation Acid Free & Lignin Free, Alkaline pH buffered matboard & backing.
We use non glare glass, You may call us to request regular glass if you like, Other styles of glass are available.
In conservation framing, We use only Museum Quality materials and procedures that will have no adverse
effects on a piece of artwork and will protect the artwork from external damage.

Description 28-36" (71-91 cm). A large, heavy-bodied loon with a thick, pointed, usually black or dark gray bill held horizontally. In breeding plumage, head and neck black with white bands on neck; back black with white spots. In winter, crown, hindneck, and upperparts dark grayish; throat and underparts white.

Voice Best-known call a loud, wailing laugh, also a mournful yodeled oo-AH-ho with middle note higher, and a loud ringing kee-a-ree, kee-a-ree with middle note lower. Often calls at night and sometimes on migration.

Habitat Nests on forested lakes and rivers; winters mainly on coastal bays and ocean.

Nesting 2 olive-brown or greenish, lightly spotted eggs in a bulky mass of vegetation near water's edge, usually on an island.

Range Breeds from Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and northern Canada south to California, Montana, and Massachusetts. Winters along Great Lakes, Gulf Coast, Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Also breeds in Greenland and Iceland.

Discussion The naturalist John Muir, who knew the Common Loon during his early years in Wisconsin, described its call as "one of the wildest and most striking of all the wilderness sounds, a strange, sad, mournful, unearthly cry, half laughing, half wailing." Expert divers, loons have eyes that can focus both in air and under water and nearly solid bones that make them heavier than many other birds; they are able to concentrate oxygen in their leg muscles to sustain them during the strenuous paddling that can take them as far as 200 feet (60 meters) below the surface. Their principal food is fish, but they also eat shellfish, frogs, and aquatic insects. In recent decades, acid rain has sterilized many lakes where these birds formerly bred, and their numbers are declining.
©National Wildlife Federation

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