The Common Loon is a symbol of the Canadian wilderness and Ontario's provincial bird. The hauntingly beautiful sound of loons calling between lakes is like magic for wilderness campers. Loons are quite large -- up to 88 cm long and 6 kg in weight. They can dive up to 60 m to catch fish.
The 1-dollar coin was introduced in 1987, to almost unanimous complaining. Seems Canadians didn't want change. The coin's nickname 'loonie' started out as a term of derision. Luckily, the government of the day had the political will to make the uneconomical-to-produce dollar bill disappear and now 'loonies' are as Canadian as...
All coin images in Daniel's Coin Zoo are from my personal collection. I collect, research, and personally photograph every coin displayed on this site. PLEASE do not take my images without permission. If you would like to use any coin image you see, just ask me. Thank you.