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Red-throated Loon

Gavia stellataOrder: GAVIIFORMESFamily: Loons (Gaviidae)
Red-throated Loon Portrait
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Range Map for Red-throated Loon

Overview

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.

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.

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Listen:

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Voice Text

"kwuk-kwuk-kwuk"

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Recommended Products:

Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
The Sibley Guide to Birds has quickly become the new standard of excellence in bird identification guides, covering more than 810 North American birds in amazing detail. Sibley's new portable guide is the one book every birder will want to carry into the field. Compact and comprehensive, this new guide features 650 bird species plus regional populations found east of the Rocky Mountains. Includes stunningly accurate illustrations-more than 4,200 in total. Features brand-new color-coded maps created from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America is an indispensable resource for all birders seeking an authoritative and portable guide. Softcover, 431 pages
Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
The Sibley Guide to Birds has quickly become the new standard of excellence in bird identification guides, covering more than 810 North American birds in amazing detail. Sibley's new portable guide is the one book every birder will want to carry into the field. Compact and comprehensive, this new guide features 703 bird species plus regional populations found west of the Rocky Mountains. Includes stunningly accurate illustrations-more than 4,600 in total. Softcover, 471 pages

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
.
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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.

Family Loon (Gaviidae)_blue
Species Gavia stellata
Length24 - 27 Inches
Wingspan43.5 Inches

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.
Red-throated Loon Body Illustration
● 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