Seven Images of the third attempt by the Loon to get airborne. As noted in the previous postings, the Loon was trapped by an ice flow to the West and a thin layer of ice on the East, South and North sides. It had an open area of water measuring about 30 x 50 meters, not far from a point on the shore from which I took these shots. It was early morning with the sun just rising over the tree tops and filtering through the trees. This made for difficult shooting as the Loon went from shade to sun to shade. The Loon quit after its fourth attempt, it just couldn't get up as the runway was too short. It only had about 50 meters and needs 300 to 500 meters. After it's fourth attempt and in between each attempt, the Loon did some diving, but never dove under the ice. It seemed to be just fishing and was not panicking at all.

About an hour after I took my last shots, the thin layer of ice started to break up under the sun and by the waves. The Loon then simply swam away.

First Image: Starting with a run and wings-a-flapping!


Faster and --------


faster.


Almost up, but --------


"Ice flow ahead! ABORT. TURN OFF THE JETS!"


Applying the brakes.


Now, what to do? "Let's go back and try one more time".