And Your Bird Can Sing

 Or listening to the  laughter of the loon;

 Or, in the evening twilight's latest red;

Beholding the procession of the pines..

   R.W. Emerson (The Adirondacs) 1858  

Gavia immer, or common loon, is a water bird. Like albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, they are tube-nosed swimmers, having a salt gland in their heads and two elongated nostrils which they use to get rid of salt. Known as 'divers' in the UK, their song is haunting and evocative.