What has a black head, beady red eyes, and cries like a banshee? It’s the Common Loon! Drag over the noteheads to listen.
The Common Loon sings an interval of an imperfect fourth, usually from E to A. This is a much wider interval than most birds, who commonly sing thirds. The mysterious wail of the loon has long captivated the imaginations of ornithologists, who barely have any imagination to speak of!
Yesterday I perused a very nice book about loons, but unfortunately there wasn’t any musical transcription included. How do they expect me to tune my acoustic guitar when I go camping? Well, now you can set your low E and A string to the tones of the loon!
