Editing Common loon (section)

==Taxonomy==
The common loon is also known as the great northern diver in [[Eurasia]]. Another former name, great northern loon, was a compromise proposed by the [[International Ornithological Committee]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OiaNDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|title=Handbook of Bird Biology|last1=Lovette|first1=Irby J.|last2=Fitzpatrick|first2=John W.|date=2016|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|isbn=978-1-118-29104-7|location=New York, NY|pages=13}}</ref> It is one of five [[loon]] species that make up the [[genus]] ''Gavia'', the only genus of the family Gaviidae and order [[Gaviiformes]]. Its closest relative is another large black-headed species, the [[yellow-billed loon]] or white-billed diver (''Gavia adamsii'').<ref name="Boertmann">{{cite journal|last=Boertmann|first=D.|year=1990|title=Phylogeny of the divers, family Gaviidae (Aves)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258846478| journal=Steenstrupia|volume=16|issue=3|pages=21–36}}</ref> There are no recognized subspecies of the common loon.<ref>{{cite web | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Loons, penguins, petrels | work=World Bird List Version 8.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/loons/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=12 November 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427191432/https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/loons/ | archive-date=27 April 2020 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Danish [[zoologist]] and [[mineralogist]] [[Morten Thrane Brünnich]] first described the common loon in 1764, as ''Colymbus immer'' in his ''Ornithologia Borealis''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10306825?page=50|title=Ornithologia Borealis|last=Brünnich|first=Morten Thrane|publisher=J.C. Kall|year=1764|location=Hafnia (Copenhagen) |page=38|language=la|author-link=Morten Thrane Brünnich}}</ref> The now-defunct genus ''Colymbus'' contained [[grebe]]s as well as loons,<ref name =shuf>{{Cite journal|last=Shufeldt|first=R.W. |date=1914|title=On the oology of the North American Pygopodes | journal=The Condor | volume=16| issue=4| pages=169–180| doi=10.2307/1362079| jstor=1362079 | url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v016n04/p0169-p0180.pdf }}</ref> and remained in use{{efn|For example, [https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V43/V43_N01/V43_N01_P008_008_A003.pdf this] 1951 ''British Birds'' article}} until the [[International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature]] attempted to clarify the nomenclature in 1956 by declaring ''Colymbus'' a suppressed name unfit for further use and establishing ''Gavia'', created by [[Johann Reinhold Forster]] in 1788, as the valid genus name for the loons.<ref name=ICZN>{{cite journal|author=International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature|author-link=International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature|year=1957–58|title=The family-group names "Gaviidae" Coues, 1903 and "Urinatoridae" (correction of "Urinatores)" Vieillot, 1818 (Class Aves) – "Opinion" 401 and "Direction" 75|journal=Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature|volume=15A|pages=147–48|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12218706}}</ref>

The current genus name ''Gavia'' was the Latin term for an unidentified seabird and the specific ''immer'' is derived from a Norwegian name for the bird,<ref name=job>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n171 171], 203}}</ref> similar to the modern Icelandic word "himbrimi".{{sfn|Johnsgard|1987|p=94}} The word may be related to Swedish ''immer'' and ''emmer'': the grey or blackened ashes of a fire (referring to the loon's dark plumage); or to Latin ''immergo'', to immerse, and ''immersus'', submerged.{{sfn|Johnsgard|1987|p=107}}

The European name "diver" comes from the bird's practice of catching fish by diving.<ref name=OEDdiver>{{OED |Diver}}</ref> The North American name "loon" was first recorded in this sense in ''New Englands Prospect'' (1634) by William Wood (1580–1639); "The Loone is an ill shap'd thing like a Cormorant".<ref name=OEDloon>{{OED |Loon}}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last=Wood | first=William | year=1865 | orig-year=1634 | title=Wood's New-England's Prospect | location=Boston | publisher=Prince Society | page=[https://archive.org/details/woodsnewengland00woodgoog/page/n83 34] | url=https://archive.org/details/woodsnewengland00woodgoog }}</ref> It may be derived from Old Norse ''lómr'', as are modern Swedish and Danish ''lom'',<ref name=OEDloom>{{OED |Loom}}</ref> in each case referring to the distinctive call.{{sfn|Lockwood|1984|p=97}}

A number of fossil loon species are known from the [[Pliocene]], and specimens from the [[Pleistocene]] of [[California]] and [[Florida]] appear to represent a [[paleosubspecies]] of the common loon.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brodkorb|first1=Pierce|year=1953|title=A review of the Pliocene loons|journal=Condor|volume=55|issue=4|pages=211–14|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v055n04/p0211-p0214.pdf|doi=10.2307/1364769|jstor=1364769|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118012151/https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v055n04/p0211-p0214.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>