** Chris Maack writes -

<snip>
> A friend of mine who monitors the Common Loons
> on Big Lake, north of Anchorage, once witnessed
> an adult loon drown its own chick! She was totally
> shocked of course. It just kept pulling the chick
> under until it stopped resurfacing. =
<snip>

Two etymologies for "loon", likely related (Norse -> English):

Scandinavian - to wail; to lament.
Old English - crazy (as in crazy as a wailing loon).

Best to remember that virtually all words are introduced to describe
accurately a situation or action. Was this moniker applied to the
bird in question to reflect the first or second connotation?

- Jack




Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca