Duluth Family Rescues Baby Loon From Roadway

DULUTH, Minn. — A family in Duluth experienced something they likely will never experience again.

They spotted a baby loon stuck on the side of the road.

Knowing loons can’t take off without a runway of water, Stephanie Nixon and her family scooped the little guy up with a towel and brought it to the shoreline of Schultz Lake.

The family was nervous the loon was injured, but the bird quickly took off in a dive into the lake and showed signs of freedom and excitement.

Stephanie said the experience of helping the loon to safety is one her family will never forget, and she’s thankful they did a double-take and turned their truck around to see if it really was Minnesota’s state bird in a spot it should have never been.

Click the video below to watch the full, unedited version of the rescue:

“He made his little noises, and he was out there and swam just fine. And then he spread his wings. I don’t know if you saw in the video where he spread the wings out, and it was like, oh, wonderful, you know. So it doesn’t look like he sustained any injuries,” Stephanie explained.

The Minnesota DNR says loons need a 100 to 600-foot runway in order to take off from a lake. Its legs are set far back on its body, so it has an awkward time on land.

Stephanie has a theory of what happened.

“He couldn’t move at all. He was laying on the road. And, you know, we wondered if perhaps he had taken flight from the lake … one of his maiden voyages, and thought that the road was the water and ended up there,” Stephanie explained.

Fun Facts from the Minnesota DNR.

The bones of most birds are hollow and light, but loons have solid bones.

The extra weight helps them dive as deep as 250 feet to search for food.

They can stay underwater for up to five minutes.

Loons can fly more than 75 miles per hour.

Scientists think loons can live for 30 years or more.