Alternative name: Pacific Diver
- Gavia pacifica
Identification
Length 65-66cm, Wingspan 118cm
Adult breeding: white-chequered black back and dove-grey head pale and throat patch has purple (not green) iridescence.
Adult non-breeding: dark-grey brown above clearly demarcated from white underparts but may lack conspicuous white flank patch seen on swimming birds.
Similar Species
Slightly smaller than the Arctic Loon/Black-throated Diver but smaller and with a finer bill.
Distribution
Breeds in north-eastern Siberia and in northern North America from Alaska east to Hudson Bay. Winters off Japan and the Pacific coast of North America from Alaska to Baja California and commonly in the Gulf of California. May occur as a rare winter vagrant to the Atlantic coast but these birds may belong to Black-throated Diver.
Accidental vagrant in the eastern United States.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Breeds on medium-large lakes and winters at sea.
Behaviour
Breeding
Breeds early-May to September (later in the north of their range). It builds nests beside water often on an island or spit, a shallow scrape or sometimes a substantial mound of vegetation built in shallow water. It lays 2 eggs which are olive brown with black blotches. Both sexes incubate for approx 28 days. The young feed themselves at 35 days and fly at 60 days.
Diet
Fish, also molluscs and crustaceans.
Vocalisation
Wailing, croaking and cackling calls.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibirds
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Pacific Loon. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Pacific_Loon
