Red-throated Loon

Gavia stellataOrder: GAVIIFORMESFamily: Loons (Gaviidae)

Breeding Location:

Lakes, Tundra

Breeding Type:

Solitary nester, Loose colonies

Breeding Population:

Common to fairly common on tundra

Egg Color:

Olive green to brown with black brown spots

Number of Eggs:

1 - 3

Incubation Days:

24 - 29

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Grasses and mud.

Migration:

Migratory

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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and 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.

Readily Eats

Vocalization

Red-throated Loon: Gives a short wailing call; makes a variety of other calls on breeding grounds.

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.

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

Red-throated Loon

● 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
Bird name:

Field Guide to Birds of North America