04 May Ballet of loon, filet of sole

Last month, Loons began their annual return to breeding sites along Nova Scotia’s freshwater lakes and ponds. Friday morning, Joshua Barss Donham captured this video of a loon feasting on flounder in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbour, just metres away from traffic on Quinpool Road and the Armdale Rotary. [Click the [  ] icon at the bottom right to view full screen.]

“How long does it take a loon to tenderize and swallow a flounder?” asks Joshua. “About two minutes, 11 seconds—that’s how long.”

Over the space of 20 minutes, Joshua watched this bird dive after, catch, and swallow three flounder.

“Twice, the loon had to dive and recapture the largest of the fish (not the one in this video) when the flounder attempted to escape during the tenderizing process.”