Having recently been fishing in the north woods, I find that something is missing as I try to fall asleep at night. It’s not mosquitoes. It’s something soothing and majestic. It’s the sound of the Common Loon (or Gavia immer).
If you’ve never seen or heard these birds, you need to look them up. Below is a picture I took of a couple loons on the lake I fish.
If you’ve never seen or heard these birds, you need to look them up. Below is a picture I took of a couple loons on the lake I fish.
As you can see, they look like large black and white ducks with pointed beaks and red eyes. They spend very little if any time on land, preferring to be on the water, where they are excellent swimmers. They can stay beneath the surface for prolonged periods of time to swim and catch their food with the aforementioned pointed beak.
To see a loon take off or land on water is to witness a sight that is less than spectacular. They take a very long time to lift off, sometimes becoming stranded if the lake they land on is too small. Their landings look like that of a comic relief character in a children’s cartoon as they use their bellies to slow themselves because their feet are set so far back on their bodies.
While I may not be making the greatest case for your appreciation of the majestic loon, I have yet to go into detail regarding their calls. The first time you hear a loon’s call in person is a life changing event. Often when you hear the first, you hear other loons in the distance calling in response. It in a haunting, enchanting, just plain flipping awesome sound.
Their calls vary, but each is spectacular in its own way. You have the hoot which the loon uses to communicate or check in with mates or chicks. The tremolo sounds like a short laugh but signifies fear or agitation. The wail is a call and response call that the loons use to contact loons from a distance on the same lake or a nearby lake.
But the best of all is the yodel. This is done by the male as a territorial cry.
Not only is the call of the loon the world’s greatest bird call, but it may be the single most amazing sound I have ever heard in my life. If Mozart or Beethoven had a loon at their disposal they surely would have used it as an instrument.
So as I sit in bed and listen instead to the thumping bass of some jerk driving by with their stereo turned up too loudly, I wish instead that I could hear the distant call from the clear waters of the north woods of the loon. I hereby declare that the Common Loon is the official bird of Transformer Generation Dad.
To see a loon take off or land on water is to witness a sight that is less than spectacular. They take a very long time to lift off, sometimes becoming stranded if the lake they land on is too small. Their landings look like that of a comic relief character in a children’s cartoon as they use their bellies to slow themselves because their feet are set so far back on their bodies.
While I may not be making the greatest case for your appreciation of the majestic loon, I have yet to go into detail regarding their calls. The first time you hear a loon’s call in person is a life changing event. Often when you hear the first, you hear other loons in the distance calling in response. It in a haunting, enchanting, just plain flipping awesome sound.
Their calls vary, but each is spectacular in its own way. You have the hoot which the loon uses to communicate or check in with mates or chicks. The tremolo sounds like a short laugh but signifies fear or agitation. The wail is a call and response call that the loons use to contact loons from a distance on the same lake or a nearby lake.
But the best of all is the yodel. This is done by the male as a territorial cry.
Not only is the call of the loon the world’s greatest bird call, but it may be the single most amazing sound I have ever heard in my life. If Mozart or Beethoven had a loon at their disposal they surely would have used it as an instrument.
So as I sit in bed and listen instead to the thumping bass of some jerk driving by with their stereo turned up too loudly, I wish instead that I could hear the distant call from the clear waters of the north woods of the loon. I hereby declare that the Common Loon is the official bird of Transformer Generation Dad.
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