Putting rivalry aside, loon pair adopts duckling 

Camping in a tent with loons etc...

I think Loons are stunningly beautiful. I'm a New England/Boston kid, and spending my formative years in rural southwestern Maine, it has become a right of passage for lakefront homeowners to sit out most summer nights just to listen to the loons. Two words: hauntingly beautiful.

yes i was having a little sleep paralysis from the loon just because of the red eyes i know it was a terrifying experience

I agree, but think that the duckling would’ve been dead by now if it weren’t for the loons :)

I thought it was bread which causes angel wing, which is not very protein rich.

He's highly unlikely to develop angel wing Because by the end of this video he's already a flying adult so that's well past the point where angel wing First shows itself.

I found a November 2019 article in an Ottawa paper - the mallard flew around a lot as she got bigger and freaked her parents out, but always came back to them. Dr Piper contended she stayed with her loon parents for longer than she needed to, for their sake. They all left the lake for the migration and it's unknown how long they stayed together; loon parents and loon offspring don't 'winter' together, apparently, so who knows....

That's just ONE side of nature. The other side is: cannibalism, incest, infanticide, fatricide, matricide, necrophilia, murder/feeding, abandonment, etc. Much worse than humans.

@@ThePaganSun You're missing the point. Its not about Nature having a 'worse' side. And its not 'worse than humans'. stop buying into the lies your mind is telling you. Nature is what it is. Its beautiful to those who can "see". Who are you to judge nature like that anyway?

@@Bamboos2011 I'm not the one "missing the point!" The ones who see nature as this "kumbaya love fest" and think we humans are nothing but "evil" and nature is nothing but "good" are the ones missing the point! Nature DOES have a nasty, cruel side and humans can be good (it's mostly our power-hungry leaders who are corrupt). Who are YOU to judge humans like that anyway?!

@@ThePaganSun You sound young so I'll be gentle. Humans have their strengths and flaws too. You are misinterpreting the comment. No where does it say what you are implying. However, humans do need to live up to a higher standard and our whole world depends on that. YOU are a part of this nature, not separate from it. We as humans do need to learn a lot, first how to treat each other. Rather than pointing fingers at the "power hungry leaders who are corrupt" out there somewhere, why dont you look at yourselves first? Are you projecting? Why blame someone out there? A great example is right here...Just go back and re-read what you wrote back to me and the language and tone of voice you used to get your message across. Speaks a lot about humans and all that they see. The nature that you speak of as "nasty and cruel" is one that is sustaining YOU right now and keeping you on this planet. Ungrateful much? Have perspective. You have a lot to learn.

"Bamboos2011 It's true that humans are part of nature, but it's wrong to assume that humans are somehow "more evil" than any other animal when in truth the only reason why animals themselves haven't destroyed the Earth is more because of our human intelligence rather than some innate moral superiority that some animal-lovers seem to think. Yes, nature can be beautiful. But it can also be cruel, devastating and ruthless. Just look at all the natural disasters like earthquakes, storms, hurricane, floods, etc.! Just look at the animal kingdom where they kill each other not JUST for food but also for mates, territorial rights, and sometimes even for fun! Yes, you read that right. Lions will kill the hyenas matriarch because they know it'll throw the hyenas into confusion...likewise, hyenas will kill lion cubs if they can. I love nature and the Earth but I'm not deluded like some into thinking that it's all good or wonderful. We humans do have to protect and care for it, but we also have to look out for our species too. We don't have much of the protection other animals have like warm fur, sharp teeth or claws, great size, etc. So yeah...we had to adapt the best way we knew. I agree that we can do more to protect our planet and environment and we should; but if animals had our intelligence; I doubt they would've done any better as guardians." Response to your reply.: First of all humans are the ones destroying the planets faster than anything else, its proven by Science. Science? Ever heard of it? Or something called Global warming? its due to humans not animals. Animals live in harmony and within the laws and boundaries that they are granted to them by their creator. Humans do not. How dare you judge what God created what you know nothing about? Clearly, Neither do you know history nor science. You must be a neanderthal if you believe that we need to still compete for fur and claws. . And You sound like those "corrupt politicians" yourself that you were blaming...insecure, greedy with an attitude of entitlement. Only looking out for yourself with an utter disregard to anything else on the planet. How Callous!! Life will teach you some brutal lessons. LOL thats your problem. Its because of people like you who lack respect of nature that the world is in a pandemic. You sound so small and unable to grasp anything of real value in life. How unfortunate for you.

2:10 It is widely recognized that loons are vocally active at night with observations of their nocturnal vocal behavior dating back many decades (e.g., Olson and Marshall 1952; Rummel and Goetzinger 1975). - Source: BioOne

If this is an interesting addition to nature versus nurture that shows one thing it can really mentally screw something up because this duck will never be able to breed since he thinks he's a loon.

Not really. They belong to the dabbler group of ducks. They can dive, but their large, buoyant bodies are build for surface foraging.

Mallards are referred to as “dabbling ducks”. They definitely are capable of diving like “diving ducks”, but these names don’t come from pure capability, but rather general feeding methods. Ducks are amazingly capable, if we were to name them on pure capability, they’d have an incredibly long name: The waddling, flying, boat-like swimmy, diving birds who quack, look cool as duck, fly in large flocks to migrate, have funny orange feet, and love water, peas, corn, or whatever they can find, including man-made bread which they seem to love but actually is not healthy for it, and have the cutest egg-hatched babies ever seen on the planet. Also this one prefers to dabble lol.

what's a hooman

News stations love to create sensationalism. Don’t ever trust them. Anyway, the main waterfowl species I could see competing with loons are mergansers, grebes and cormorants.

I don't think they meant rivals in terms of resources. I think they were saying that loons are often seen driving ducks out of their territory and attacking them. And killing ducklings. So these animals coexisting is a very rare occurrence, much less them actually developing a bond.

Loons compete for physical space and especially nesting.