Which bird appears on the Canadian one-dollar coin?

The common loon appears on the Canadian one-dollar coin. The bird’s image is on the reverse of the coin, which Canadians commonly call the “loonie.”

The Royal Canadian Mint introduced the loonie in 1987 to replace Canada’s one-dollar banknote and the older Voyageur dollar coin. Its reverse was designed by Robert-Ralph Carmichael and shows a common loon floating on water. The bird’s image became so closely associated with the denomination that “loonie” also became an informal name for the Canadian dollar itself.

The coin’s distinctive appearance helped it circulate successfully. It is gold-coloured, 26.5 millimetres in diameter, and has an eleven-sided shape that makes it easy to distinguish by touch and sight. The original coin weighed about 7 grams; modern versions use brass-plated steel and weigh about 6.27 grams.

A common mix-up is the Canadian two-dollar coin, known as the “toonie.” It normally shows a polar bear, while the one-dollar loonie shows the loon. Commemorative one-dollar coins can feature other designs, but the standard circulating reverse remains the common loon.