When a loon is nesting and, later, when the chicks have been hatched but before they can dive, if a person or animal gets too close then one of the loon pair will move some distance (at least 20 metres) away, rise out of the water, flap its wings, a call out. Note that sitting on the nest, looking after chicks, and causing a diversion are shared male and female job -either of the adult pair can fill either roles. Most often, two chicks are born each spring. Also, a chick often rides on the back of one of it's parents.
I've attempted to capture all this in a pair of scroll-sawn works:
Loon Distracting:
Loons Protected:
The pair, entitled 'Loon Family on Alert' have been hung some distance apart in order to reflect what happens in nature:
The creation of the patterns for these pieces can be found in the thread:
Both the foreground and background pieces of this pair have been made from 3mm thick Baltic birch plywood. After assembly, a couple of coats of clear satin Varethane was prayed on. I made the frames out of poplar, stained them with Samen water-based stain, then applied several coats of Polymerized Tung oil.
My design was inspired by a painting by Glen Rabena a copy of which I placed into the thread that was referenced above: