Researchers recently went to Long Lake, Wisconsin, in the middle of July. The people who were part of The Loon Project thought they would see a normal day for the birds on the water. But the experts were shocked when a mother loon swam by them slowly with a baby on her back.

No, it wasn’t a loon. That was a little baby.

There was no one in the room who had seen anything like it before. The story was mostly put together by the experts after a lot of careful questioning and observation. The loon couple was already parents before the duckling came along. The couple lost their baby loon, which was sad.

Because they were such strong mothers, the loons quickly searched for another animal to care for. At that point, they must have seen the little baby by himself. They chose to take care of the duckling on their own. It was an easy task because ducklings will stamp on the first moving parent figure they become aware of.

The baby didn’t say anything when the loons took him in. His new family made him happy, and he was ready to make himself at home.

He even learned how to dive all the way to the bottom of the lake to find food, which is a skill most ducklings never have to learn. Even though loons and ducklings don’t normally eat the same things, this little duckling is doing pretty well getting used to its new food.