 Common Loon |
| GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Length, 28 to 36 inches. Adults in summer: Upper parts glossy black with white spots; under parts, white. In Winter: Upper parts grayish-brown without spots. |
| OTHER NAMES: Common Loon; Big Loon; Great Northern Diver; Imber Diver; Hell-Diver; Ember-Goose; Walloon; Ringed-necked Loon; Guinea Duck; Greehead. |
| COLOR: ADULTS IN SUMMER: Head and neck all atound, glossy purplish-black with greenish reflections; a patch of sharp white streaks over throat; another of same kind on each side of neck, seperated in front, but sometimes meeting behind; entire upper parts, wing-coverts, and inner secondaries, glossy black, thickly marked with white spots - those of shoulders, inner secondaries, and back, large, square and regularly arranged traversely, those of other parts oval, smallest on rump and wing-coverts, greenish-black; primaries, dusky; lower parts od breast, streaked with black; bill and feet, black; iris; red. ADULTS IN WINTER, AND YOUNG: Crown, neck and upper parts, in general grayish brown, the feathers of back with lighter edges; primaries, black; tail, gray-tipped; sides of breast, mottled; chin, throat, and neck in front (narrowly), and under parts, white with some dark feathers on sides and under tail-coverts, thus no black or white spots; bill, dusky, bluish-white at base and below; feet, lighter than summer; iris, brown. |
| NEST AND EGGS: NEST - Usually a hollow in the gsand, without nesting material; in some localities a rough nest is constructed of sticks and reeds; occationally the top of an old muskrat house is utilized. EGGS: 2, dark olive-gray, stained with brown and spotted with black. |
| Distribution: Northern part of northern hemisphere; in North America breeds from Alaska across Arctic North America to Greenland, south to northern California, across the United States at about the parallel 42 degrees to Nova Scotia; winters from southern British Columbia, the Great lakes, and southern New England to lower California, the Gulf Coast, and Florida. | Duck-like Birds | Home | Bird Classifications | |
