Loon Mountain Resort, New Hampshire Live Cam

A loon sits on a floating nest raft in front of the webcam, on one of the lakes of central New Hampshire. The Loon Preservation Committee runs both the raft and the camera.

Loons cannot walk. Their legs are set so far back on the body that they can only shuffle, so a nest has to be within about a metre of open water; rafts are put out where the natural shoreline has been lost to boat wash or to water levels that rise and fall with a dam.

The main killer of adult loons in this state is lead, swallowed as sinkers and jigheads along with the fish they are stuck in. New Hampshire banned the smaller lead tackle in stages, and the committee has tracked every territorial pair in the state since 1975. Chicks ride on a parent's back for their first fortnight, which is when the raft is busiest.