Red-throated Loon - in Human Culture

In Human Culture

Used as a food source since prehistoric times, the Red-throated Loon is still hunted by indigenous peoples in some parts of the world today. Eggs as well as birds are taken, sometimes in significant numbers; during one study on northern Canada's Igloolik Island, 73 percent of all Red-throated Loon eggs laid within the 10 km2 (3.9 mi2) study site over two breeding seasons were collected by indigenous inhabitants of the island. In some parts of Russia, Red-throated Loon skins were traditionally used to make caps and various clothing decorations, including collars. The species was also central to the creation mythologies of indigenous groups throughout the Holarctic. According to the myth—which varies only slightly between versions, despite the sometimes-vast distances that separated the groups who believed it—the loon was asked by a great shaman to bring up earth from the bottom of the sea. That earth was then used to build the world's dry land.

As recently as the 1800s, the behaviour of the Red-throated Loon was used to forecast the weather; according to the conventional wisdom of the time, birds flying inland or giving short cries predicted good weather, while those flying out to sea or giving long, wailing cries predicted rain. In the Orkney and Shetland islands of Scotland, the species is still known as the "rain goose" in deference to its supposed weather-predicting capabilities. The people of Faroe Islands believed that if the Red-throated Loon miaowed like a cat, then rain was imminent, while a call of gaa-gaa-gaa or turkatrae-turkatrae predicted fine weather.

Bhutan, Japan and the Union of the Comoros have issued stamps featuring the Red-throated Loon.