Hello,
My name is Frank and I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I am a vintage binocular enthusiast which is what led me this forum. I enjoy collecting, using, repairing and researching vintage binoculars some of my favorites being Ross, Zeiss and Nippon Kogaku Nikon and would like to hear from any of you who share these interests.
Since this is really a bird forum, I'll share my most interesting bird watching experience. Although I don't consider myself a bird watcher, I guess I do a lot of it. We are fortunate to have a cabin at a remote location at Lake of the Woods in Ontario where we spend a great deal of time in the summer and fall. One of my favorite activities is to sit in a rocking chair on the porch in the early morning reading a good book, drinking coffee and observing what's going on about a kilometer across the bay with many various binoculars. Normally, we see lots of loons, white pelicans, cormorants, bald eagles, mallards and deer swimming from island to island. So, one morning my wife (using Zeiss Deltrintims 8 X 30's) says to me, "Look at those baby ducks out there." And I took a quick polite look (using Leitz Mardocit 12 X 60's) at a hen mallard and about 10 duckling swimming along maybe 100 metres from a marshy shoreline. Several minutes later my wife again interrupts my reading saying, "Frank, a loon's attacking those ducks!"
Well, that got my attention, and for the next five minutes I witnessed a single loon devour almost all the ducklings (about three eventually made it to the safety of the marsh grass at the shore). It was like a u-boat attacking an unguarded convoy of merchant ships. The loon would emerge amongst the ducklings and eat one and then submerge while the hen scurried about looking for it; then re-emerge when the hen was away from her brood and so on and so on. Not only did the incident itself amaze me but how a loon could possibly consume so many ducklings at one time also did.
Truly, nature is red in tooth and claw! The lovely and mysterious call of the loon has never sounded the same to us since.
My name is Frank and I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I am a vintage binocular enthusiast which is what led me this forum. I enjoy collecting, using, repairing and researching vintage binoculars some of my favorites being Ross, Zeiss and Nippon Kogaku Nikon and would like to hear from any of you who share these interests.
Since this is really a bird forum, I'll share my most interesting bird watching experience. Although I don't consider myself a bird watcher, I guess I do a lot of it. We are fortunate to have a cabin at a remote location at Lake of the Woods in Ontario where we spend a great deal of time in the summer and fall. One of my favorite activities is to sit in a rocking chair on the porch in the early morning reading a good book, drinking coffee and observing what's going on about a kilometer across the bay with many various binoculars. Normally, we see lots of loons, white pelicans, cormorants, bald eagles, mallards and deer swimming from island to island. So, one morning my wife (using Zeiss Deltrintims 8 X 30's) says to me, "Look at those baby ducks out there." And I took a quick polite look (using Leitz Mardocit 12 X 60's) at a hen mallard and about 10 duckling swimming along maybe 100 metres from a marshy shoreline. Several minutes later my wife again interrupts my reading saying, "Frank, a loon's attacking those ducks!"
Well, that got my attention, and for the next five minutes I witnessed a single loon devour almost all the ducklings (about three eventually made it to the safety of the marsh grass at the shore). It was like a u-boat attacking an unguarded convoy of merchant ships. The loon would emerge amongst the ducklings and eat one and then submerge while the hen scurried about looking for it; then re-emerge when the hen was away from her brood and so on and so on. Not only did the incident itself amaze me but how a loon could possibly consume so many ducklings at one time also did.
Truly, nature is red in tooth and claw! The lovely and mysterious call of the loon has never sounded the same to us since.
