When you think of a common loon, you probably envision a summer scene, perhaps a peaceful Maine lake with the early morning sun rising just above the treetops, wisps of fog swirling over the water. 

Along with your image, you may hear a wailing cry and look out from the shore to see a striking black-and-white patterned, large-billed bird floating on the surface. 

Yes, common loon loons are often integral to a scene like that, and for many people that may be the only setting in which they have seen or ever imagined seeing a loon.

But common loons are actually very easy to see in winter along Maine’s coastline. The winter range of common loon extends along the Atlantic Coast from Newfoundland to Florida and across the Gulf Coast to Mexico. 

The species also winters along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Mexico. Here in Maine it is possible to find one or more loons in a scan of the water from just about any coastal location during the winter months. 

While many folks think of common loons as a quintessential Maine summer bird on our lakes (and they are), Maine is actually on the southeastern edge of an extensive breeding range that extends throughout virtually all of Canada and Alaska except the extreme high Arctic. And the Boreal Forest region of Canada has literally millions of lakes to provide nesting locations for loons and other waterbirds. 

But of course those lakes, like Maine’s, freeze in winter, and that means a lot of common loons have to head south to open marine coastlines to survive. So while some of our wintering loons may have come from Maine, many may have arrived from places farther north and west.

One of the reasons that common loons often go unnoticed in winter is because they don’t look anything like what they do in summer. Instead of that bold black head and black-and-white checkered back, they molt into a rather drab costume of gray back and white undersides. 

Sure, they still have that big, thick bill; stocky head and neck, and big body that gives away their identity to the discerning eye, but if someone is looking for the boldly patterned black- and-white bird, the drab version may be discounted as some kind of mystery duck or other waterbird. 

During the winter, common loons eat small fish, as you might expect, but also sometimes can be seen capturing and consuming small crabs and other small sea creatures. 

We recently saw one off Ocean Point that had captured what looked like a small flounder whose width thwarted the bird’s repeated attempts to swallow it.

Occurring in lesser numbers but still seen regularly along the Maine coast in winter is the red-throated loon, a slimmer species than the common loon, with a “snakier” head and upward-tilted and slimmer bill. 

As its name suggests, in breeding plumage it does indeed have a red throat, and a gray instead of black head. 

If you watch regularly for loons in your favorite coastal locations, you may have the pleasure of observing the same individuals regularly as they molt from drab winter plumage to the dapper summer attire that so many of us think of when we think of what a common loon “really” looks like.

Dr. Jeff Wells is the senior scientist for the Boreal Songbird Initiative. During his time at the famed Cornell Lab of Ornithology and as the Audubon Society's national bird conservation director, Dr. Wells earned a reputation as one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists. Jeff's grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, also formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a widely published natural history writer and a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Together, they have been writing and teaching people about birds for decades. The Maine natives are authors of the highly acclaimed book, “Maine's Favorite Birds.”