Fifth (final) posting in this series "Breakfast Time and The Interaction of the Adult Loons with their 11 - 12 day old Chicks."

Dad (above) catches another large minnow, along with a mouthful of weeds.


Dad holds it underwater for the smallest of the young to take.


Little Sister takes it by the tail, but after taking one good look at it she drops it and says, "DAD, how do you expect me to eat this. Its way too big, and those sharp fins.....brr.


Dad finally shows some compassion. He says " I guess you did have the last one." Then he picks it up and offers it to big brother.


Big Brother says " OK, I'll take an other one." but, not so easy as again, Dad holds the minnow underwater for junior to retrieve.


Dad lends a helping beak to get the minnow turned head-first.


Down the hatch it goes. Remember, this is probably the 4rth or 5th minnow he has consumed for breakfast - quite a meal. I think that maybe Loons invented forced feeding.

After this last minnow, Dad took off, presumably thinking that he's done his duty and its time to have a beer with his buddies. Mom was left tending the family.

Note: In the half hour that we watched, Dad brought in two smallish minnows and four rather big ones. The reluctance of the young to take even the first ones offered might suggest that they already had devoured a few. No wonder these little ones are growing so fast.

Note also that Dad taught them to turn the minnows to go down head-first and to retrieve them underwater. Also that throughout the feeding, Mom did nor interfere, even when the chicks tried to take refuge behind her, she just continued to swim around.

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END OF THIS SERIES