2025 MURAL SPECIES!
common loon
Ojibwe: Maang
Latin: Gavia immer
STATUS:
US STATUS: No Status/Not Listed
MI STATUS: T - Threatened (Legally Protected)
ARTIST:
MADELINE MACKENZIE
Madeline MacKenzie is a painter and designer from Albuquerque, New Mexico who specializes in folk-inspired paintings and murals. She is currently based in Los Angeles, California. She’s really into outsider art, old stories about old places, and diy community art initiatives in any and all forms.
Find more of Maddie’s work here!
EDUCATOR:
GRACE FORTHAUS
Grace Forthaus is a graduate student at Grand Valley State University working in the Partridge Lab at the Annis Water Resources Institute. Before returning to school, they worked in habitat restoration, invasive species management, and surveyed for rare and endangered species throughout the state. They have an especially soft spot for Michigan wetlands and native plants.
Visit our Common Loon mural in downtown Grand Rapids at 56 Front Avenue NW!
Description:
The Common Loon is a large, heavy-bodied bird, averaging 32 inches (81.3 cm) in length, with a wingspan of about 5 feet (1.5 m). In breeding plumage, its head and dagger-like bill are dark, its breast white, and its back is a distinctive black and white checkerboard pattern.
Habitat and Occurrence
If you’re looking to find a Common Loon for yourself, check within the following ecosystems within the green counties on the map!
• Bog
• Emergent marsh
• Great lake, littoral, benthic
• Great lake, littoral, midwater
• Great lake, pelagic, benthic
• Inland lake, pelagic, midwater
All information on this page is generously provided by the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI). For more information about Common Loons - visit the species description here: mnfi.anr.msu.edu/common-loon. To learn more about Michigan’s biodiversity, ecological communities and natural heritage, visit mnfi.anr.msu.edu
get involved with common loon conservation!
If you are interested in volunteering to help protect Common Loons in Michigan, consider volunteering with Michigan LoonWatch! Michigan LoonWatch is a management, protection, and registry program of the Michigan Loon Preservation Association. There are also many organizations who work to protect the habitats where loons and other bird species breed and feed! Volunteer with some of these organizations and help protect the habitat that Common Loon need in order to survive. You also can participate in Breeding Bird Surveys with Michigan Audubon which helps understand bird populations throughout our state!
report an observation
MNFI stewards the Michigan Natural Heritage Database and track observations of some of Michigan’s rarest forms of life to fully understand the population and range of rare species to protect biodiversity in Michigan. If you have encountered a Common Loon, you can share the location information with these trusted conservation professionals here: mnfi.anr.msu.edu/species/report