{"id":9318,"date":"2020-10-22T17:25:57","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T00:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/?page_id=9318"},"modified":"2023-09-16T09:45:26","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T16:45:26","slug":"2020-4-yellow-billed-loon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/published-writings-and-art\/salish-sea-stories-48-north-magazine\/2020-4-yellow-billed-loon\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 – 4 Yellow-billed Loon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Growing up deep in \u2018civilization\u2019, I spent much time wishing to be in a wilderness somewhere, anywhere, and hearing the sounds of loons, owls and ravens. I still do that, but at least now I can get out there on a regular schedule. It\u2019s important to me, and as life continues, the thrill of immersing myself in wildness is heightened by learning about it \u2013 and painting it. For me, loons are the embodiment of wild places, even if they aren\u2019t exactly there when I see them. I saw one of these yellow-billed beauties recently off Port Townsend and was mentally transported, instantly, to a deep cove in Northern British Columbia, complete with grizzly tracks along the shoreline as they were being filled by a rising tide. I breathed the salt-saturated air, heard the peepers along the shore in a marsh, heard the loon\u2019s mate calling out their \u2018crazy laugh\u2019, a tremolo no one never forgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yellow-billed loons are the largest and heaviest loon, and difficult to identify in winter. Don\u2019t use my painting to decide if what you\u2019re seeing is a common loon or not. None are here in summer, but during winter and spring, these birds come to escape the harsh winters before returning in April to nest in the high arctic. There, both parents build a floating nest mound of muddy tundra vegetation along a lake\u2019s shoreline and both incubate the eggs. The two chicks sometimes ride on their parent\u2019s backs, even while diving for fish. Summer plumage changes them to dramatic black and white patterns that look like a broken diamond necklace that has been tossed at the bird, scattering all over its neck and back. They can be seen around the Salish Sea during April as they prepare to fly north for the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Eifert paints and sails the Pacific Northwest from Port Townsend. His large-scale murals can be seen in many national parks across America, and at larryeifert.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Growing up deep in \u2018civilization\u2019, I spent much time wishing to be in a wilderness somewhere, anywhere, and hearing the sounds of loons, owls and ravens. I still do that, but at least now I can get out there on a regular schedule. It\u2019s important to me, and as life continues, the thrill of immersing … Continue reading 2020 – 4 Yellow-billed Loon<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11867,"parent":6453,"menu_order":25,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9318","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9318"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11869,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9318\/revisions\/11869"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}