Family of loons

We are all filled with trepidation, excitement, and nostalgia today for two reasons.

Tomorrow morning is the final exam and tomorrow is everyones last day at the Biological Station. I don't think anyone in our class really wants to go. It is just too great here, especially with sunny picture perfect days like this.

As is Dave and I's custom we took the pontoon boat out with most of the class for an afternoon on Douglas Lake. The water was deepest blue and the sun felt so good on the bare skin of our shoulders. Motoring out to the far side of the Lake everyone was almost lulled to sleep by the lazy cadence of the motor before we pulled up on a sandbar and I jumped off to push us into deeper water. Looking overboard globules of zebra mussels lie scattered on the muddy bottom, punctuated here and there by reeds and tiny fish. In one bay we saw a big catfish and schools of perch in the shallow water. My favorite though was of course the loons....

They come from far away - migrating perhaps from distant places like the Arctic. And every summer they nest here on Douglas Lake. Their eerie, beautiful calls put me to sleep at night up here and I've often watched them from afar from the shore or rocking in a canoe. For me they represent all the good things that this place embodies and the wild spirit of the Lakes. Unable to dive with such a young chick I was able to very delicately nap this shot before letting the boat drift back into the deep blue depths....

The perfect place for an afternoon swim.