Gavia adamsii
L 34″ (86 cm).

Song or calls:
Utters wild, ringing laugh like common loon but harsher. Yodels like a common loon.

Description: Sexes similar. Winter birds white below with brown above, including stripe up hindneck through crown. Side of neck buff-brown, with light around eye and variable dark spot behind eye. Dusky yellow bill, slightly uptilted. Juvenile similar to winter adult, but paler.

Habitat: Large lakes and reservoirs. Coastal migrants; very rare inland.

Where in Nebraska: Rare casual fall visitor and accidental in summer. Most likely found at large reservoirs in late fall or early winter.

Field Notes: One of best known birds in legends and folklore of Eskimos, known as a weather prophet.

Fun Facts: A group of loons has many collective nouns, including an “asylum”, “cry”, “loomery”, “raft”, and “water dance” of loons.