The Common Loon

The Science of Birds

Ivan Phillipsen

Natural History, Science, Nature, Birds, Birdwatching, Life Sciences, Biology, Birding

4.8 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode—which is Number 43—is all about the Common Loon, Gavia immer. People in Europe may know it as the Great Northern Diver.This bird is a symbol of the northern wilderness in North America. It’s closely associated with lakes and ponds in the boreal forests of the northern US and Canada.~~ Leave me a review using Podchaser ~~‍Links of InterestLoon scenes in the movie On Golden Pond [VIDEO]Why Hollywood Loves this creepy bird call [VIDEO]Loon Kills Bald EagleAnimation of Common Loon ab...

Transcript

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0:00.0	I first learned about the existence of the common loon the same way I learn about most of the important things in life, from pop culture.
0:19.2	There's this movie that came out in 1981, on Golden Pond,
0:23.8	starring Catherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda. I was five years old at the time. I remember almost
0:29.8	nothing about the movie, except for some vague imagery of the setting, a summer cottage on a lake
0:35.2	in northern New England. Mostly, I remember the characters seem to have a lot to say about the loons living on the lake.
0:43.1	The movie shows footage of loons and also features the sounds of calling loons.
0:48.6	As I remember it, Catherine Hepburn's character, Ethel, seems to talk about loons
0:53.4	incessantly for pretty much the entire
0:55.7	length of On Golden Pond.
0:57.5	The loons.
0:58.6	The loons.
0:59.6	They're welcoming us back.
1:02.6	Oh, look, I've spotted the loons.
1:09.0	Thanks to scenes like that, Catherine Hepburn won the Academy Award for Best Actress that year.
1:14.7	Good for her. As far as I'm concerned, however, the real stars of On Golden Pond were the common loons.
1:22.2	But did anyone give a loon an Oscar? Even for best supporting actor? Nope.
1:28.1	As usual, the birds got snubbed.
1:31.2	The character Ethel in this movie was out of her friggin' mind for loons.
1:35.8	And, you know, I don't blame her.
1:38.5	The common loon is a magnificent bird.
1:41.1	It really is something to get excited about.
1:43.5	Music It really is something to get excited about.
	...

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