Common Loon

Common Loon in Michigan

Gavia immer

Identification. Large, heavy-bodied diving bird. Breeding plumage adults show checkerboard black-and-white back, glossy black head, and white striping on neck. Eerie wailing call is iconic to northern Michigan summers.

Status in Michigan. Breeding resident on northern lakes; common migrant on the Great Lakes. Common Loon breeds on clear, deep lakes across the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula. The species requires lakes with low human disturbance and adequate forage fish populations. Spring and fall migration on the Great Lakes brings substantial numbers along all four lake coastlines.

Habitat. Clear, deep, oligotrophic inland lakes for breeding; Great Lakes for migration and increasingly for wintering as conditions allow.

Where to find Common Loon. Reliable breeding lakes include Higgins Lake, Houghton Lake, and most clear lakes in the Pigeon River Country State Forest. Migration concentration at Whitefish Point in spring is exceptional.

Best Michigan counties for Common Loon. Roscommon, Crawford, Otsego, Cheboygan, Schoolcraft. Click any county above to see recent Common Loon sightings and hotspot information.

Conservation. Listed as a Threatened species in Michigan. The Michigan Loon Preservation Association coordinates volunteer monitoring of breeding pairs. Lead fishing tackle ingestion remains a significant cause of mortality.

The sightings table below this section pulls live Common Loon reports from eBird across all 83 Michigan counties, refreshed every 15 minutes. For comprehensive historical records and global range information, the eBird species profile and Cornell Lab of Ornithology Birds of the World account are the authoritative references.

Edited by Chris Izworski, Bay City, Michigan. Sightings data from eBird, updated every 15 minutes.