Red-throated Loon

Gavia stellata (Pontoppidan, 1763)

Red-throated Loon, Gavia stellata, breeds across the high Arctic and subarctic of North America and the Palearctic, from Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the northern British Isles and Scandinavia through northern Russia to Chukotka, Kamchatka, Sakhalin and Lake Baikal, and from Alaska and the Aleutians to north-western British Columbia, northern Canada, Ellesmere Island and Newfoundland. Outside the breeding season it moves to coasts and seas of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, reaching southern Florida, the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean, the Black and Caspian seas, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, the Yellow Sea and north-west Mexico. It is the smallest and lightest loon, and in breeding plumage shows a red throat patch.

Order

Gaviiformes

Family

Gaviidae — Loons

Breeding range

North America, Palearctic: high Arctic to subarctic: sw, se Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Is., n British Isles, n Scandinavia, Svalbard (n of Norway), n Russia to Chukotka Pen., Kamchatka and Sakhalin and s to Lake Baikal (e Russia); Aleutian Is., Alaska mainland to nw British Columbia, n Canada to Ellesmere I. and Newfoundland (ne, se Canada)

Nonbreeding range

North Atlantic and North Pacific coasts and seas: s to n Florida, Iberian Pen., Mediterranean, Black and Caspian seas; Japan, Korean Pen. and Yellow Sea; to n Baja California (nw Mexico)