Red-throated Loon

Gavia stellata

Photo by Gallus
Photographed at Ardnamurchan, UK.

Description

ALSO KNOWN AS RED THROATED DIVER. Length 53-69cm. Wingspan 110cm. The smallest diver (loon) and often identifiable by head and bill held at an upward angle. Adult breeding: grey-brown with scattered white steaks and spots above and whitish below. Head grey with black and white vertical stripes on the hindneck and red throat patch. Adult non-breeding: much duller, grey-brown spotted with white above and whitish below. Dark head and hindneck merge evenly into white face and foreneck and lack the sharp contrast of other divers (loons). Small size and slender upturned bill held at an angle are the best identification features at all seasons.

Range :

Circumpolar, the most widespread and numerous diver. Breeds in North America from the Aleutians and Alaska south to British Columbia and east to eastern Quebec, Newfoundland and Greenland. In the Palearctic breeds in Iceland, north and west Scotland, over much of Scandinavia and across northern Russia including Bear Island, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, east to the Pacific coast breeding on Sakhalin and Kamchatka. In North America winters from the Aleutians south to north-west Mexico on the Pacific coast, the Great Lakes, and on the Atlantic south to Florida and the Gulf Coast. Vagrant to north-west Mexico. European wintering range mainly from Iceland and Norway south to Biscay and the northern Mediterranean, also in the southern Baltic, the Black and Caspian Sea. Rarely reaches the Mediterranean coast of North Africa and a vagrant to the Azores and Canary Islands. In the far east winters off Japan, less commonly south to Taiwan and a vagrant to Hong Kong.

Habitat :

Breeds beside shallow lakes and pools on moorland and tundra, sometimes slow-flowing rivers and sheltered coasts. On passage and in winter most move to coastal waters and occurs on estuaries, bays and sheltered seas, sometimes on large inland lakes.

Voice :

A variety of wailing and shreiking calls and a cackling flight call rendered gah-gah-gah-gah.

Breeding :

Usually solitary but may be loosely colonial in some areas. Breeds late May-September. Nest a bare scrape beside water or a more substantial mound of vegetation built in shallow water. Eggs: 2 (rarely 1), olive-buff to dark olive-brown with sparse black blotches (75 x 48mm). Incubated by both sexes but mainly female for 24-29 days. Young tended by both sexes and fly at about 42 days

Diet :

Fish caught during 60 second dives.

Bird Song

<flashmp3>Gavia stellata (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program

External Links

• View more images of Red-throated Loon in the gallery
• Where to see Red-throated Diver/Loon in Iceland