Common in NH
Common Loon
Gavia immer · Loons (Gaviidae)
- Status
- Breeds on clear lakes statewide, a state conservation success story; winters on the seacoast
- Length
- 26–36 in
- Regions
- Lakes · The Whites · Coast · Conn. River
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What you notice first
In summer, the voice across the water at night — a long, rising wail, or the manic laughing "tremolo" of a bird that's been disturbed.
Voice
Four calls worth knowing — the wail (long-distance contact), the tremolo (alarm, and the only call given in flight), the yodel (male territorial, individually unique), and a soft hoot between family members.
Where & when
Larger clear lakes April through October — Umbagog, Squam, Winnipesaukee, dozens of smaller ponds. By December, singles and small rafts on salt water off Odiorne and Great Bay, in plain grey winter plumage.
New Hampshire nearly lost its loons. Shoreline development, lead fishing tackle, boat wakes swamping nests, and mercury in the fish drove the population down through the 20th century. Decades of work by the Loon Preservation Committee — rafts, ranger patrols, a lead-tackle ban — have brought it back to something over 300 territorial pairs, monitored bird by bird.
The body is built for diving, not land: legs set far back for propulsion, solid rather than hollow bones to cut buoyancy. A loon can’t walk more than a shove, and needs a long open-water runway to take off, which is why a bird that lands on a wet road or a small pond in migration is in trouble.
The checkerboard back and black head are summer only. Winter birds are drab grey-brown, and that’s what you get on the coast.