Loons
Order: Gaviiformes. Family: Gaviidae
Loons are aquatic birds size of a large duck, to which they are unrelated. Their plumage is largely grey or black, they have spear-shaped bills. Loons swim well, and fly adequately, but, because their legs are placed towards the rear of the body, are almost hopeless on land. In Massachusetts, three species have been recorded.
- Red-throated Loon, Gavia stellata
- Pacific Loon, Gavia pacifica (R)
- Common Loon, Gavia immer (n)
Read more about this topic: List Of Birds Of Massachusetts
Famous quotes containing the word loons:
“At length, having come up fifty rods off, he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his god was angry with me; and so I left him disappearing far away on the tumultuous surface.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)