This is a true story that shows the amazement of saving a precious wild animal and the people of Siseebakwat / Sugar Lake working together to make this such an amazingly beautiful place to live. You just never know what experience is right around the corner….. or in your driveway.

This was the Summer of 2016 when this happened and when I wrote this.

Susie Mogan, Johnathan Mogan, and I were outside in the yard. It was a beautiful day, so I walked to my car to grab a lawn chair that I had just bought. Sitting in the driveway, right next to my car, was what looked like a grey furry stuffed animal. I got close and bent down and thought that it was the cutest, softest dog toy…….. until it turned its head. What?!?!

Seriously the cutest fuzziest thing I have ever seen!! Well, after Susie and I got close and checked it out, Susie said “This is a baby Loon”. Knowing that Loons are unable to walk – we had no idea how it got into the driveway. It didn’t make any sense how it ended up there. I picked it up slowly and checked it over to make sure it wasn’t injured. Amazingly, it didn’t have a scratch on it, so I snuggled it up to my chest and carried it to the lake.

I slowly set the baby in the water and it instantly started swimming. My 8-year-old son (Johnathan) could do an amazing Loon call, so we had him do his call a few times. Right away we heard a Loon call back that was pretty far out in the water. Thankfully, that baby must have known momma’s voice because she started diving and swimming in her direction. The baby Loon started making the cutest sweet baby call & Momma Loon started calling and swimming toward the baby too. It took a few minutes, but before we knew it, they were reunited!! We watched with the binoculars for a bit just to make sure it would be okay and they seemed to be doing great. Yay!!! Not only did we have this amazing experience to save the baby Loon, but we were actually able to reunite it with momma Loon!! How amazing and such a beautiful moment to be a part of!! (No, unfortunately, we didn’t get one picture – it happened so fast)

Susie Mogan (my mother-in-law) sent me this text not long afterward.

“Kathy! Someone saw an eagle pick up a loon baby yesterday and fly off with it. I bet that was the one in the driveway. Probably dropped it. You'd think it would have died when it hit the ground, though. Anyway, the person said the loon had two babies. If it was the same parents, maybe when our loon swam back, the other parent had the second baby. The person took pictures of the loons and babies……looks just like ours.”

Hopefully, this is one of the Loons that comes back here every year and we hear their beautiful calls of Happiness!!! And who knows, it may have had babies, grandbabies, and even great grand babies since then…...

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed our little (true) story.

Kathy Mogan

This photo was taken by the one and only Karen Lucachick

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Abby Ox

June 12, 2022

Fun Stuff, Lake Info

Siseebakwet Stories: Toot Loves Loons

Abby Ox

June 12, 2022

Fun Stuff, Lake Info

Toot Loves Loons

By Karen Lucachick

Todd and I bought our first pontoon this last spring and Tyttö aka “Toot” became the First Mate! She loves going for what we refer to as “PonTooty” rides! What surprised me was every time we went for a “PonTooty” ride, Toot would bark and the loons would swim right up to our pontoon, maybe out of curiosity or just being accustomed to the recreational activity on Siseebakwet. One loon swam underneath our pontoon! Great photo opportunities!

I titled the one photo, “Two Chicks”, because even though one chick is clearly visible in front of the two adult loons and, if you look closely, you can see a second chick behind the adult loon on the left.

One early morning, I dozed off watching TV on the couch and when I woke up, I could sense something was watching me. I looked to my left and this eagle was perched in a tree approximately 30 feet from my deck. Another great photo opportunity!

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