Black-throated Diver

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iBlack-throated Diver

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gaviiformes
Family:	Gaviidae
Genus:	Gavia
Species:	G. arctica

Binomial name

Gavia arctica
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Distribution of G. arctica.
Green = breeding range
Yellow = winter range

Black-throated Diver, known in North America as Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica), is a medium-sized member of the loon or diver family.

1 Description
2 Distribution
3 Behaviour
4 Miscellaneous
5 References

[edit] Description

Breeding adults are 63 cm to 75 cm in length with a 100 cm to 122 cm wingspan, shaped like a smaller, sleeker version of the Great Northern Diver. They have a grey head, black throat, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin and foreneck white. Its bill is grey or whitish and dagger-shaped. In all plumages a white flank patch distinguishes this species from all other divers including the otherwise almost identical Pacific Diver.

[edit] Distribution

It breeds in Eurasia and occasionally in western Alaska. It winters at sea on large lakes over a much wider range.

[edit] Behaviour

This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, catching its prey underwater. It flies with neck outstretched.

The call is a yodelling high-pitched wail.

[edit] Miscellaneous

The Black-throated Diver is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Instructions for constructing and deploying artificial floating islands to provide Black-throated Divers with nesting opportunities are given in Hancock (2000).

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Gavia arctica. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

Hancock, Mark (2000): Artificial floating islands for nesting Black-throated Divers Gavia arctica in Scotland: construction, use and effect on breeding success. Bird Study 47: 165-175. HTML abstract