Classic bird paintings

Common Loon painting: Audubon's plate and other classic portraits

John James Audubon painted the Common Loon as plate 306 of The Birds of America (1827–38), under the name Great Northern Diver or Loon. A free high-resolution scan is on Audubon.org. The loons shown here are from John Gould's The Birds of Europe (1832–37), where he called the bird the Northern Diver.

Updated

A Common Loon in summer plumage, with a black head and a white-checkered back, beside a paler bird on the water
Common Loons, from John Gould's The Birds of Europe, where he called the bird the Northern Diver. John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37)

About this painting

These loons are plate 393 of John Gould's The Birds of Europe (1832–37), under the name Northern Diver, Colymbus glacialis. Gould drew it again, with Henry Constantine Richter, for his The Birds of Great Britain (1862–73), as the Great Northern Diver.

Audubon’s Common Loon: plate 306, “Great Northern Diver or Loon”

Audubon's plate shows an adult male and a young male; he drew the young bird in October 1819 from one taken on the Ohio.

In Labrador his youngest son, John Woodhouse Audubon, shot a loon that fell with a broken wing on bare granite. It stood up and ran about a hundred yards, reaching the water ahead of John, who was a fast runner. Sailing from Charleston to the Florida Keys in May 1832, the crew heard loons calling and feared a hurricane; the voyage was very pleasant, and Audubon called the belief absurd. He heard loons most often on the Ohio, in calm Indian summer weather.

Story: Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, vol. 4 (1838). See plate 306 free at Audubon.org.

More classic portraits, free to see

  • John James Audubon, The Birds of America, octavo edition (1840–44), plate 476: “Great North Diver-Loon”. Free scan (New York Public Library Digital Collections)
  • John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37), plate 393: “Northern Diver” (Colymbus glacialis) (the painting shown above). Free scan (University of Kansas Libraries)
  • John Gould and Henry Constantine Richter, The Birds of Great Britain (1862–73), vol. 5, plate 43: “Great Northern Diver” (Colymbus glacialis). Free scan (University of Kansas Libraries)
  • Louis Agassiz Fuertes, for Elon H. Eaton’s Birds of New York (1910–14), plate 2: “Common Loon”, with the Red-throated Loon. Free scan (Internet Archive)

About the Common Loon

The oldest known wild Common Loon lived at least 33 years and 9 months: it was banded in Michigan in 1987 and found there again in 2021. That is a record from bird banding, not a typical lifespan. (Source: USGS Bird Banding Laboratory, 2025 longevity table.) How long do wild birds live?

Buying a print?

An original plate 306 is a hand-colored sheet about 26 by 38 inches, printed in Britain in 1827–38; many prints sold today are reproductions or small 1840s octavo prints. How to tell an original from a reproduction.

In a Birdfolio, the hardcover book of your own life list, this painting sits beside the Common Loon with the date and place you first saw one. See your own list as a book, free.