Loon Eating Trout - Silver Lake New Hampshire
This is a common loon trying to eat a large trout on Silver Lake, NH. I took this shot on September 9th, 2006. This was a large spawning trout. See the eggs being ejected from the fish. I observed the loon repeatedly spearing the fish with the lower beak to kill it. I watch loons hunt often, but I had never seen this behavior before. I was with this bird for almost a half of an hour. I took many pictures. Usually, a loon will dive and swim far away. This one could not because the fish was too big to carry. It tried and never got more than ten feet away. It was still trying to eat the fish when I left it. I do not believe that it could have been successful. That fish was just too big.
Comments and faves
maplemusketeer (68 months ago | reply)
Well it was certainly trying hard! That's an amazing shot... wild.
Eric Irish (64 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Loons, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
tntsquared added this photo to their favorites. (60 months ago)
tntsquared (60 months ago | reply)
spectacular shot -- it's amazing!
Shauna Sechrist (57 months ago | reply)
Awesome catch! If you haven't already.........
Come join us and post your bird photo at the Secret Life of Birds
Caspian Tern (56 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Waterbird Diet Research, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
studentofrhythm, gedibear, RayRabbit, and johnay3ch added this photo to their favorites.
andersenpk (45 months ago | reply)
Wow! I don't know how you ever managed to get this picture - I also don't know how that loon managed to swallow that big fish - amazing!
Puneet Singh Lamba, oshima8, I AM MONSTER, and johnny_appleseed99 added this photo to their favorites.
nikonshot1 (35 months ago | reply)
Simply Amazing!
buzsawyer, franceseattle, and NaPix -- (Time out) added this photo to their favorites.
NaPix -- (Time out) (22 months ago | reply)
Fantastic catch...
i got this one... much smaller fish
Steve Gray from York (16 months ago | reply)
A wildlife photographer's dream come true.
cestinotc1 [in pausa] added this photo to his favorites. (6 weeks ago)