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Loon
* All loons are highly specialized for aquatic life.
* All loons have grayish feathers in the winter
  - plumage in winter, when immatures tend to resemble adults
  - short legs with fully webbed toes
* Most loons eat fish.
* Most loons have bones
  - dense bones
  - identical plumages
  - solid bones
  - spend the winter on the Atlantic, Gulf or Pacific coasts of North America
* Some loons attack predators.
* Some loons die from lead poison
  - malaria
* Some loons die of diseases
* Some loons die of tropical diseases
  - feed on fish
* Some loons have low reproductive success
  - ovaries
  * A 'loon' bird that lives on water. It is like a duck. Loons are the size of a large duck or a small goose. Loons are the state bird of Minnesota. Loons are found in most parts of North America and Eastern Europe. They enjoy cool climates in the summer and migrate to ocean coasts in the winter.
  * dive under the water for many metres. They can dive up to 200 feet underwater for food.
  * They are best known for their loud, trumpeting call. They also make melodic, wailing or laughing sounds. Loons communicate to each other through their sounds. They also communicate with humans and other animals through dance. Loons warn others to stay away from their nests by dancing on the water. Loons are protective parents and will dance to exhaustion and death to protect their eggs.
  * eat fish like sunfish, perch, and bullheads. Loons do not chew their food. They have elastic throats that allow the loon to swallow their food whole. When they swallow fish, their throat expands to the size of the fish they eat so they do not choke
* accumulate mercury from the fish they eat.
* also eat fish that have broken off anglers' fishing lines with sinkers or jigs still attached
  - group together just before migrating, a behaviour known as staging
* appear in spring with the disappearance of the ice.
* are a long-lived bird
  - relatively heavy bird because their bodies are designed for diving
  - actually more attached to their nesting lake than to a specific loon partner
  - agile swimmers, but they move pretty fast in the air, too
  - an ideal species to observe since they spend all their time in the middle of a lake
* are beautiful and distinctive birds with a call that sounds like a haunting wail
  - birds, but best watched from a distance with binoculars
  - black and white birds about two feet long, the size of a goose
  - black and white with long black beaks
  - excellent swimmers, using their feet to propel themselves above and under water
  - extremely awkward on land and venture out of the water only to nest
  - fast in the water, but have trouble walking on land
  - on lakes throughout central and northeastern Minnesota
  - generally solitary birds
* are hard to capture, especially on the wintering grounds
  - notice from the ground as they wing over at high altitudes and high speeds
  - heavy birds with their feet positioned far back on their body
  - idlers
  - in their new plumage when they leave their wintering grounds
* are large black and white birds with long black bills and red eyes
  - large, heavy birds that have small wings
  - one of the oldest groups of flying birds still living
  - reported by many observers as nesting on muskrat houses
* are skillful and agile swimmers and use their large webbed feet for propulsion
  - swimmers and divers and can stay underwater for long periods of time
  - solitary nesters
* are strong divers, able to stay under water for up to a full minute searching for food
  - fliers and are adept at diving
  - supreme rulers of their aquatic domain
  - terrific divers and their bodies have adapted to their aquatic lifestyle
* are the best adapted for diving
  - oldest and most primitive of our water birds
* are very awkward on land because their legs are located at the back portion of their body
  - sensitive to human disturbance, including recreation or development on their lakes
  - vulnerable to acid rain, shoreline development and the wake of power boats
  - water birds with black feathers and white spots
* are water birds, only going ashore to mate and incubate eggs
  - very clumsy on land
  - webbed-toed divers with short legs well back near the tail
* avoid predation by nesting on islands, where ground-based predators are less common.
* can die from lead poisoning after swallowing lead fishing tackle.
* can dive and swim very proficiently
  - two hundred feet deep
* chicks swim when they are only a few hours old.
* dive under water to catch fish.
* do all their feeding during the day, when they can best see their prey
  - come ashore but only to nest
  - occasionally switch mates and are more attached to their lake than to each other
* drink water by scooping it up with their bill and tilting their head back in order to swallow.
* eat amphipods, crabs, and molluscs
  - approximately two pounds of fish each day
  - fish like sunfish , perch , and bullheads
  - small fish such as perch, bullhead, sunfish, frogs and crayfish
* eat, sleep, and spend almost all their time in the water.
* feed by catching fish under water.
* feed on fish and other aquatic life
  - small fish but are also known to eat aquatic vegetation, insects, mollusks, and frogs
  - primarily on fish, frogs, crayfish, mussels, leeches, and aquatic insects
* figure prominently in the folklore of many northern cultures.
* float low on the water and dive frequently.
* fly south in late fall and return again in late spring
  - to the coast for the winter
* generally stay on saltwater until age three or older.
* grow a lot of large, stiff feathers all at once.
* have a long dagger-like bill unlike the more rounded bills of ducks and geese
  - short tail and webbed feet and look like large ducks when sitting on water
  - thick rubber-like material to keep their legs and feet warm
  - an apparent strong preference for flying into head winds
  - difficulty capturing prey on lakes with heavy algae blooms or very dark staining
  - relatively heavy bodies and small wings-both adaptations for diving deep into water
* have solid bones, and compress the air out of their feathers to float low in the water
  - special adaptations to handle salty water and fish
  - thick necks, dagger-like bills and small pointed wings
  - white streaks on their neck, and their head and neck are glossy blue and green
* includes arms
  - body substances
  - cell membranes
  - corpi
  - human bodies
  - material bodies
  - nuclei
  - plasma membranes
  - sections
  - vacuoles
* is an idler
  - the only company to put sunscreen in a line cleaner
* live for long time
* long, narrow,deep and clear lake.
* look alike once they reach adulthood.
* migrate south and east shortly before ice covers the lakes.
* mostly eat fish such as yellow perch, trout, and minnows.
* multi-robot system designed for navigation and exploration tasks.
* often mate in the spring.
* peer underwater and move their heads from side to side to locate prey.
* pick up small pebbles from lake bottoms to aid in digesting their food.
* prefer to nest in quiet, secluded areas protected from wind.
* return to areas
  - nest sites year after year if left undisturbed
  - same areas
  - the same lake and even the same nest year after year
  - their northern ponds each year just on the day the ice breaks up
* ride low on the water and can dive and swim, foot-propelled, under water for several minutes.
* spend long rest periods motionless on the water
  - most of their time in the open water
  - much of their life on the ocean and in cold water lakes
  - summers on alpine lakes, returning to the coast during winter
* spend the winter season along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts
  - Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico coasts
  - their time hunting, feeding, and resting
* swim low in the water because their bones are heavy
  - with their eyes open
* typically produce two eggs each year.
* use bills
  - human-created reservoirs for breeding and as migratory stops
  - specific signs and behavior to signal availability and the desire to mate
  - their dagger-shaped bill to catch fish
* usually mate on the nest site.
* weigh pounds.
* work on building their nests all through incubation, and nests are often used over again.