A very lucky loon was rescued by a Howard County, Maryland, couple after getting stuck in a precarious position on a local lake.
The Howard County Bird Club noticed a common loon had landed in a private pond that seemed a little small for him.
“They need several hundred feet in order to take off to fly,” said Val Swan, vice president of the Howard County Bird Club.
On Saturday, the loon was still on the lake, which was shrinking due to the nonstop freezing temperatures.
According to the bird watchers, the watery area of the pond went from 50 feet across the first night to 20 feet across on Saturday. By Sunday, there was only 3 feet of open water left and on Monday, they found the loon sitting on ice, since the pond had completely frozen over.
Val’s husband, Jeff, decided he needed to do something for the safety of the loon.
“We had been told by birding experts it was really going to be vulnerable to a fox or bald eagle that would come in and kill it,” Jeff told WTOP.
While he didn’t have a net, Jeff did have something he thought he could turn into a net — the soft fabric cover for his Corvette.
It took a few tries, but Jeff was able to drop the car cover on top of the loon, scoop him up and put him in a plastic bin to transfer to a safer location.
“We went to Springdale Quarry,” Val said. “It’s so deep it never freezes.”
Val and Jeff took the loony bin, or the bin with the loon in it, to the water’s edge, and with fellow bird watcher Gregg Petersen recording, they opened the top to let their feathered friend stretch his wings.
There was a splash as the loon hit the water, then it let out a cry, called a yodel, as if to thank the couple for giving him the freedom to fly once again.
Val said she and Jeff watched with joy as the loon took to the water.
“It went out and it swam and was diving, which is fishing, so it’s back to being a loon!” she said.
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