Imagine my surprise this weekend when I saw not one, but three Common Loons in southeast Michigan.
Typically I only get to see one Common Loon during spring migration, seeing three was a treat!
I place them in the same category as Cedar Waxwings with their elegant and dapper look: Common Loons have a black-and-white striped collar and checkerboard-patterned back.
Often seen in in some of our deeper southeast Michigan inland lakes as well as the Great Lakes during the last week of March and first weeks of April, Common Loons are migrating north through our area.
Their breeding grounds are in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Canada.
For me, the wailing call of the Common Loon brings back memories of sunset drives through Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
For almost 20 years, we would take trips to Seney three to four times a year to bird, hike the trails, and enjoy the seven-mile wildlife viewing drive.
I saw my first Sandhill Cranes and Common Loons at Seney.
And for years, thought Sandhill Cranes were a brown, not gray color.
(At Seney, tannins from hemlocks stain the water. Sandhill Cranes forage in the tannin-rich marshes and their feathers take on the brownish color.)
One of most fascinating stories about Common Loons comes from Seney: the world’s oldest loon couple returns to Seney every year.
We were lucky to see the pair and their young years ago!