The common loon is the state bird of Minnesota, and the national bird of Canada. It earned these honors by being aesthetically pleasing, but there is more than meets the eye to these birds. Because Loons are on the top of the food pyramid, their absence would not have a particularly large impact on an ecosystem. However, the presence of loons on a lake can give politicians and environmentalists leverage to protect said lake from development that would otherwise hurt the ecosystem. The presence of one loon can stop developers from ruining an otherwise pristine lake. Such a tool is invaluable in the fight for species diversity.
Additionally, loons are already making a comeback. At this point, loons aren't even endangered, only threatened. One might think that this means we don't need to worry about them anymore, but that is not the point I am trying to make. My point is that we won't even have to do that much work to save them, we need only to continue doing what we are doing. Stopping the fight to save the loons now would be a waste of resources and time.
