Red-throated Loon

Gavia stellataOrder: GAVIIFORMES Family: Loons (Gaviidae)

Codes: Common Name: RTLO Scientific Name: GAVSTE ITIS Taxonomic No.: 174474

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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.

Topo Map: Duck-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kwuk-kwuk-kwuk"

Interesting Facts

A group of loons has many collective nouns, including an "asylum", "cry", "loomery", "raft", and "water dance" of loons.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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.

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

Duck-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America