Wild Loons Lost Their Baby And Decided To Adopt An Orphaned Duckling

Aug 09, 2019 by apost team

Researchers recently headed out to Long Lake, Wisconsin, in the middle of July. The men and women of The Loon Project thought that they would be observing a typical day for the many birds in the water. However, as a mother loon slowly swam by them with a baby on her back, the researchers reacted in shock.

The baby was not a loon. It was a tiny duckling.

None of the people present had ever spotted anything like it. Through careful observation and investigation, the researchers finally pieced together most of the story. The loon couple had already had a baby of their own before the duckling came along. Unfortunately, the couple lost their baby loon.

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Since loons have very strong parental instincts, they desperately searched for another animal to care for. That was when they must have spotted the tiny duckling all by himself. They decided that they were going to raise the duckling on their own. It was an easy task since ducklings will imprint on the very first moving parental figure he or she encounters.

When the loons decided to take him in, the duckling did not object one bit. He was happy with his brand new family and was ready to settle in.

Walter Piper is the head of The Loon Project. He spoke on behalf of the organization to Good Morning America, saying that they were excited to make such an amazing discovery at the pond that day. He said that it was a little strange to study a loon that raised a duckling but that it allowed them to observe something special happening in nature.

Although ducklings and baby loons are raised quite differently, this little baby didn’t seem to have a problem adapting to his new parents.

He even learned how to dive deep down to the very bottom of the lake for food, a behavior most ducklings do not ever need to learn. And even though loons and ducklings don’t eat the same type of food, this little duck is adapting to a different diet quite well.

We won’t know until later if the loon will decide to stay with his new family or not as he gets older. It will be an interesting development for sure if he does!

What did you think of this adorable story? Leave a comment below, and then pass this along to your animal-loving friends!