Exploring Nature: Loons, Loons, Loons

On a long-ago trip to Maine, I had the pleasure of hearing the haunting call of a common loon. Later, I saw several of these iconic birds and they remain a favorite of mine.

Here are a few factoids about this bird: A family of loons eats about one thousand pounds of fish during the breeding season before the chicks head off on their own.

It takes about 600 feet of open water for a loon to use as a runway before taking off in flight. Once in the air, it can reach speeds of 70 miles per hour.

Loons have four distinct calls — the wail, tremolo, yodel and hoot. I have only heard the tremolo. Most common is the hoot, which is used to communicate at close range.

Adult loons can remain underwater for five minutes while searching for food.

These are big birds. They may look compact while swimming around, but a loon’s wingspan is about 46 inches.

The eye of a loon is bright red and it hunts by night, feeding mostly on small fish. One loon will consume about 20% of its body weight in fish each day.

Humans become responsible for the deaths of many loons when they discard lead fishing weights. Loons ingest these weights and die of lead poisoning.

However, the future of loons is currently quite bright and their populations are stable or increasing. Hooray for loons.