World's Largest Talking Loon: world record set in Mercer, Wisconsin
Mercer, Wisconsin, United States--Mercer, Wisconsin is known as the “Loon Capital”; it play homage to their moniker with a 16-foot, 2,000-pound talking loon also known as "Claire d'Loon," built in Sparta, Wisconsin by the FAST Corporation and placed
in front of the Mercer Chamber of Commerce building; it sets the world record for being the World's Largest Talking Loon, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.
"Claire would be an otherwise unspectacular statue, if not for her ability to speak. There’s a box near the statue with buttons that are supposed to trigger a loon’s hoot, tremelo, yodel, or wail,"the Take My Trip reports.
Mercer, Wisconsin - The "Loon Capital" of the world
Mercer is a town located in southern Iron County, Wisconsin and has a population of less than 2,000 (1,732 per the 2000 U.S. census). The town is located on Hwy 51 south of Ironwood, Michigan and ajacent to the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage. The community of Manitowish is within the town of Mercer.
A wildlife study found Mercer had the highest concentration of common loons in the world. Mercer also hosts an annual "Loon Day" festival, which features an arts and crafts fair, live music and a loon calling contest. And, In front of the Mercer Chamber of Commerce's information center, there is a large statue of a loon named "Claire d'Loon ."
Loons (North America) or divers (United Kingdom / Ireland) are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus Gavia, family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes.
Loons, which are the size of a big duck or a small goose, resemble these birds in shape when swimming. Like ducks and geese, but unlike coots (which are Rallidae) and grebes (Podicipedidae), the loon's toes are connected by webbing. The loons may be confused with the cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae), but can be distinguished from them by their distinct call.
Cormorants are not-too-distant relatives of loons, and like them are heavy-set birds whose bellies, unlike those of ducks and geese, are submerged when swimming. Loons in flight resemble plump geese with seagulls' wings that are relatively small in proportion to their bulky bodies. The bird points its head slightly upwards while swimming, but less so than cormorants. In flight, the head droops more than in similar aquatic birds.
World's Largest Talking Loon
Address: 5150 N. Hwy 51, Mercer, WI
Directions: On US 51 in town, north side of the road, in front of the Chamber of Commerce.
Phone: 715-476-2389
Admission: Free
Related WORLD RECORDS:
The GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the deepest underwater dive by a flying bird is 210 m (690 ft) by a Brünnich’s guillemot or thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) with a maximum speed of descent of around 2 m (6 ft 6 in) a second.
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS also recognized the world record for the Longest dive underwater by a bird (duration) was set by an emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) in the Ross Sea with satellite transmitters in March 2013, when it was recorded diving underwater for 32.2 minutes.
