On busy recreational lakes, motor wakes sometimes drown chicks. Loons occasionally get tangled in discarded fishing line or plastic six-pack holders, dooming them to slow starvation. During fall migration, some loons congregate on large inland lakes before flying to coastal wintering areas. The young mature in two years, spending their second summer on the coast, rather than the freshwater lakes and ponds preferred by mature nesting pairs. They propel themselves underwater with their feet, using their wings for turning.
Loons feed on small fish but are also known to eat aquatic vegetation, insects, mollusks, and frogs.
When alarmed, loons prefer diving for safety to flying. They slide on their breasts instead of their feet when they land. They do not walk well on land, because their feet are set so far back on their bodies. The cry of the loon differs among species. On the summer nesting grounds the common and yellow-billed break into what sounds like yodeling or insane laughter.