Common Loons are striking, streamlined waterbirds easily recognized by their dagger-shaped bills and bold black-and-white breeding plumage, with a jet-black head, white “necklace” band, and checkerboard back. In Arizona, they are strictly migratory and non-breeding visitors, so we rarely see them in their striking plumage. They arrive each fall and linger through the winter months on larger lakes and reservoirs where open water persists.
Typically seen from November through March, Common Loons concentrate at sites such as Lake Havasu, Lake Pleasant, Alamo Lake and Lake Mohave in central and western Arizona, as well as the larger lakes of northern Arizona—Lake Mary and Upper Lake Mary near Flagstaff, and Navajo and Lees Ferry on the Colorado River. They favor clear, deep water where they can plunge-dive for fish, and are often observed loafing in small groups or singly between feeding bouts.
Although uncommon compared to more widespread wintering waterfowl, loons can be reliably found each season at the state’s best open-water habitats. Their haunting, wailing calls echo over glassy winter waters, marking them as one of the more memorable avian spectacles of Arizona’s cooler months.
