Loons are more than just a pretty voice, and they have an entire American town completely obsessed with them. This bird can do two out of the following three things: Fly 70 mph, dive 200 feet underwater, and walk. Find out which of these things is impossible for loons on this episode of Species.
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| 0:00.0 | Here's a sound you probably already know, but could hear a thousand more times and never quite get bored of it. |
| 0:11.5 | The whale of the common loon. There are few sounds more haunting, more distinctive, more classic, than this one. It is a sound that when it comes |
| 0:42.8 | over the water early in the morning, it goes straight into your bones. If I had a loon as my |
| 0:51.4 | alarm clock, I probably wouldn't mind getting up in the morning. |
| 0:57.0 | Now, when an animal has an ability like that one or a trait like that one, there's a risk that |
| 1:03.9 | they'll become two-dimensional in our minds. You know, we don't think about cheetahs. We think about how fast they are. We don't think about |
| 1:14.2 | giraffes. We think about how tall they are. We don't think about the loon. We think about that call. |
| 1:23.5 | But today, we are going to think about the loon. |
| 1:29.5 | The common loon. |
| 1:31.7 | Gavia I'm Mackin. |
| 1:35.2 | This is species. |
| 1:41.0 | Welcome to the show. |
| 1:42.9 | If you like this podcast or discover you like it during this episode, |
| 1:47.0 | please take the small step of sending it to someone who likes animals. I know it's kind of strange to send someone an unsolicited podcast recommendation or posted on social media, but it's not that strange. And it really helps the |
| 2:02.7 | show to share it. If you send it over iMessage, for example, with the Apple Podcasts app, |
| 2:09.0 | they'll actually be able to play it straight from the messages app, which is super sleek. Share it |
| 2:16.0 | however you like, but if you like it, I do ask that you share it. It means |
| 2:21.6 | so much. Thank you for listening. Thank you to the donors who make this show possible. |
| 2:27.6 | Thank you Eric and the Animals for playing me in. And now, without further ado, I present to you |
| 2:33.3 | the common loon. |
| 2:40.3 | Loon's look as striking as they sound. |
| 2:44.6 | Dagger-like gray beak with a jet black head contrasting with blood-red eyes. |
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