Common Loon Small Journal

The following description appears on the inside cover of your small journal.

DESCRIPTION

The common loon is best known for its haunting calls– loud yodels, mournful wails, and wild, maniacal chuckles– which fill the air over its breeding lake with a sense of wilderness. Native Americans respected the loon as the “Spirit of the Northern Waters.” Loons breed on forest lakes and slow-moving rivers across the northeastern U.S. and Canada, preferring to nest on lakes with many islands that have a minimal chance of disturbance. These birds don’t tolerate crowding, and even moderate-sized lakes support but one pair. During winter, loons are found on salt water along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts.

Loons have few natural enemies, but their populations are threatened in other ways, mainly by humans. The tremendous amount of lakefront development in formerly wild areas has decreased available nesting sites. Contamination of wintering grounds by waste oil and other pollutants has also reduced loon populations. It is up to us to help loons, the most ancient of all living birds, by leaving them unspoiled places to live.

The call of the loon can awaken in us the primal memory of the unspoiled wilderness and tempt us to follow our dreams.

artwork and text by Steve Sierigk