On Board the Loon Pontoon

Our boatload of loon watchers on Cross Lake has just come upon a pair of common loons diving and popping back up with 2-inch sunfish flailing from the tips of their beaks. Two chicks, fluffy, black, and just three days old, race each other to grab the proffered fish. Suddenly, one of the parents belts out a loud wail.

“Look up, everybody!” I call out, and sure enough, a hunting bald eagle soars toward the loon family. Before it gets to them, it swoops down, splashes its talons into the lake, and flies off with a writhing northern pike. On board, people clap and smile with relief that the eagle didn’t attack the chicks.

“But why doesn’t anyone care about the fish?” one man asks, and we all laugh at our blatant favoritism.

After three seasons of volunteering as a loon pontoon guide for the National Loon Center in Crosslake, I can attest to how much Minnesotans love our loons. But they don’t necessarily know that much about them. This year the center’s StewardShip pontoon brought more than 1,400 people out to change that by watching loons as they nest and rear their chicks. The center partners with Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd to offer similar tours on Gull Lake.

The free tours have served as a main educational outreach for the National Loon Center, founded in 2017. The small staff and volunteers have worked out of a storefront called The Nest, but on June 20 the National Loon Center Foundation broke ground on a 1,500-square-foot facility near Crosslake’s town square. Once completed next year, the visitor center will feature three floors of interactive exhibits geared toward the conservation of loons and their habitats.

The organization will continue to offer the popular loon pontoon tours, which generate a great deal of surprise from guests, whether they’re vacationers, residents of nursing homes, schoolkids, veterans groups, or even locals who have grown up with loons nearby every summer.

The image of loons as peaceful creatures whose calls evoke perfect serenity is quickly replaced with reality out on the water. Tourgoers see loons fighting with wing-flapping fury for territories. They watch loons dive incessantly to feed their demanding chicks, yodel in rage at intruder loons or bald eagles, and dodge jet skiers and speedboats. They also get to see chicks learning to dive and then to fly. 

The loon pontoon tours reveal that the connection between Minnesotans and loons is a deeply emotional one. The new facility in the works and many loon pontoon tours ahead will likely strengthen that connection.