Red-throated Loon

Gavia stellataOrder: GAVIIFORMESFamily: Loons (Gaviidae)

Related Birds

Western Grebe
Common Loon
Clark's Grebe
Arctic Loon
Yellow-billed Loon
Pacific Loon
Red-footed Booby
Masked Booby
White-tailed Tropicbird
Red-billed Tropicbird
Northern Gannet

General

Red-throated Loon: Small loon with scaled gray back and white underparts. Head and sides of neck are gray, throat is dark red, and nape is black-and-white striped. Eyes are red. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has white face, sides of neck, and throat. Juvenile has gray-brown head and throat.

Range and Habitat

Red-throated Loon: Breeds in Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and Canadian Arctic south to British Columbia, northern Manitoba, and Newfoundland. Spends winters south along Pacific coast to southern California and along the Gulf Coast and Florida; also found in northern Eurasia. Preferred nesting habitats are tundra lakes and arctic coasts.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kwuk-kwuk-kwuk"

Interesting Facts

The Red-throated Loon, also known as the Red-throated Diver, is the smallest and most widely distributed member of the loon family.
Unlike other loons, it does not carry its young on its back.
As recently as the 1800s, they were thought to be a foreteller of storms; birds flying inland or giving short cries predicted good weather, while those flying out to sea or giving long, wailing cries predicted rain.
A group of loons has many collective nouns, including an "asylum", "cry", "loomery", "raft", and "water dance" of loons.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Red-throated Loon

Red-throated Loon: Small loon with scaled gray back and white underparts. Head and sides of neck are gray, throat is dark red, nape is black-and-white striped. Eyes are red. Feeds on fish, dives to 90 feet for them. Direct flight, rapid wing beats. Only loon to leap into flight from water or land.

● Song: "kwuk-kwuk-kwuk"

● Foraging & Feeding: Red-throated Loon: Eats mostly fish; forages by diving from the surface and swimming underwater to pursue prey. Sometimes feeds in small flocks during winter.

● Breeding & nesting: Red-throated Loon: One to three olive green to brown eggs with black brown spots are laid in a ground nest made of grass, twigs, and mud, lined with finer materials, and built at the water's edge. Incubation ranges from 24 to 29 days and is carried out by both parents. Young start to fly at 49 to 60 days.

● Similar species: Red-throated Loon: Arctic and Pacific loons lack red throat patch in breeding plumage and show more contrast between dark nape and white throat in winter plumage.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Red-throated Loon: Breeds in Aleutian Islands, Alaska, and Canadian Arctic south to British Columbia, northern Manitoba, and Newfoundland. Spends winters south along Pacific coast to southern California and along the Gulf Coast and Florida; also found in northern Eurasia. Preferred nesting habitats are tundra lakes and arctic coasts.

^BreedingSolitary nester, Loose colonies

^PopulationCommon to fairly common on tundra

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight54.4 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America