Reviews

Common Loon by Terry Miller

nkspas's review

5.0

I read this thin, road-atlas-sized book in one night and couldn’t shut up about loons for days. I peppered family members with trivia. Did you know loons are the oldest flying birds in the world? (Been here 60 million years to our paltry 300,000!) Did you know they have bright red eyes to help filter out blue light so they can see prey below 15 feet underwater? Did you know due to their heavy bones and good-for-swimming-bad-for-everything-else feet they actually need a quarter mile of water just to take off? Did you know that as a result of this many loons unfortunately die each year during their fall migration to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans because they land on wet pavement slicks that look like water and then can’t take off again? Loons, loons, loons, everybody. Yes, I have gone crazy for bird books.