How to Generate Loon Calls With Your Hands
When you build your home in the country, especially when you live near a lake, you will often hear the eerie sounds of loons on warm summer evenings. Calling to these special woodland creatures can actually get them to answer you, which will make you feel a special part of your spooky nighttime landscape.You, too, can learn to make loon calls within a few minutes and learn to chat with your woodland friends, as well as impress your family and friends with your new skill. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Stand with your palms facing upward at a 45-degree angle from your body. Place the dominant hand, palms still upward, over the nondominant hand.
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Slowly curl the hands together, making a hollow ball with your hands together.
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Gently place the fingers of the dominant hand, which are now on the inside of the balled hands, on the outside while maintaining an open space on the inside of your hands. The two thumbs should be resting together, with a slight space between them.
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Straighten the fingers of the nondominant hand so that a space opens up at the back of the ball. The hand shape will now resemble a mollusk shell.
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Blow through the resulting whistle shape, while listening to your loon neighbors.
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Tips & Warnings
If you have trouble making the whistle sound, tighten your hands together; you can also wet the top of the thumbs which can make whistling easier.
Blow on the top part of the thumbs and let the air blow over the lower half of your thumbs.
The loon call generally has three separate tones, a lower pitch, a higher tone and then a lower tone to finish the sound. The higher pitch can be made by moving the upright fingers of the dominant hand slightly away from the balled hands, which creates a marginally bigger space.
When you keep practicing, nearby loons will answer you.
Resources
- Photo Credit Learnin 2008; Robert Bruce 2008
