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Coon Lake Beach 
Minnesota
If you are luck and listen, the loon's summer call will sooth your soul.
Video: 2006, a calm tame Loon on Coon Lake Beach, East Bethel, Minnesota
From About.com
Many a family has sat out on the porch of a cabin around a northern lake and listened to the haunting sounds of the Loons. The Loon call is familiar to many people because of its prevalence in many movies and relaxation tapes. Besides having an intriguing song, the Loon is an adept swimmer and diver. Being a shy bird and shunning human contact, Loons' breeding grounds today are being threatened by careless boaters and swimmers. It's too bad because Loons are quite interesting birds.
Loons are in the family Gaviidae, which in Latin means 'sea smew' (note:
smews are small crested Old World ducks.) In Europe, they are called Divers
because of their superior diving abilities. Loons are foot-propelled diving
birds that are represented by four species in North Eurasia and North America.
Loons were once thought to be related to Grebes, but have been found to have no relationship to any other living order of birds. The earliest fossil records of loon go back to the Paleocene age, over 65 million years ago!
These magnificent birds range from 23-36 1/2 in. long
with up to 5 foot wingspans, of which the largest is the Yellow Billed
and the smallest is the Red-Throated Loon. They have sleek bodies wider than
high for stability on the surface of the water where they spend most of their
lives. Male and female loons look alike, with the only difference being that
the female is smaller. Loons have thick necks, dagger-like bills and small
pointed wings. Being a water bird, they naturally have webbed toes. Their
feathers are hard and compact, except on their neck where the feathers are
soft and velvety. Found in both salt and fresh water, loons are the
only birds having some solid bones.
Loons are very shy and wary birds that put on fantastic displays if a human or another animal gets close to the nest. The display signals extreme distress and is called "penguin dancing". In this display the Loon rushes forward across the water toward the intruder and rises with head drawn back and bill almost touching breast while feet beat the water and create spray around the breast of the bird. Humans triggering this behavior often don't understand that they have come to close to a nest and continue to come back and watch the display until the birds finally leave the area. There is, however, more public education being taught around Loon nesting areas and hopefully the will continue to breed successfully.
Most scholars believe that the name loon came from the old Scandinavian word "lom", meaning lame or clumsy person. This is because of the awkward way a Loon walks on land. Its hind legs are set so far back on the bird's body that it makes walking a difficult and less than graceful task. Most Loons cannot fly from land and need a long running start to get into the air (sometimes up to half a mile!) Once in the air they are swift powerful flyers going 60 mph or more. In flight they thrust their necks forward and down which gives them a humpbacked appearance. All Loons are migratory.
The Loon is a welcome summer guest around lakes and ponds in the northern US. Many people welcome the haunting cries as a relaxing part of the night sounds, and are sad to here them go. These cries have inspired many composers to use them in recordings of albums and they have inspired cultures around the world. Excellent divers, Loons fill a special niche in the ecosphere and thusly have physiological adaptations that make them superb at what they do. Hopefully it will continue to delight and inspire generation to come.
Loon joins scuba divers
May you always hear the whisper of wings...
Thanks to Michigan Loons for the audio
Vocalizations
Tremolo
The Tremolo call signals alarm or annoyance. Tremolos are frequently given
by excited Loons after a disturbance of the nest or chicks; they may attempt
to draw intruders away from the chicks by distracting them to the location
of the disturbance. Adults give this call especially while dancing nearly
upright or running over the water. Tremolos may also be given in association
with escape by diving or take off. Tremolo duets are performed by pairs when
young are threatened, but also as a territorial proclamation in early spring.
Loons also give the Tremolo as the overhead flight call.
Wail
The wail is the most frequently identified and favorite call of those that
love the Loon. It has also been called the night call, and the storm call.
It seems to be, according to Dr. Judy McIntyre, "the loon version of
'come here' and 'here I come' ". Like the tremolo call, there are three
different types, referred to as one-note, two-note and three-note.
Yodel
The Yodel is given exclusively by males. It serves as an aggressive territorial
proclamation. It is most frequently given during nesting, and is performed
with the male loon's head crouched low over the water. Because it is the males
territorial call, it was thought previously that it was unchanging and could
therefore be used to identify individual loons from year to year by voice
tagging, (audiospectrograph) as has been done with other species. This has
been recently discovered to be in error. According to research done by Charles
Wolcott, (Dept of Neurobiology & Behavior, Cornell University) at the
Seney National Wildlife Refuge, a male loon, recently displaced after an all
day contest with an interloping male, has been found to change his Yodel as
demonstrated by voice tagging.
Hoot
The hoot is most likely a contact call; it is a soft, one note sound. It is
used to communicate the location of the sending loon. It may be used during
social gatherings, or by the adults to call chicks for feeding. Another call,
the mew, is used for communication with the chicks as well. The hoot is the
call most likely to be used in the winter; though it appears loons could perform
any call at any time, they are nearly silent in the winter.
(Thanks for the Hoot wav. file from DJ Long)