Red-throated Diver

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iRed-throated Diver
Conservation status
Least Concern (LC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae Genus: Gavia Species: G. stellata
Binomial name
Gavia stellata (Pontoppidan, 1763)
Distribution of G. stellata. Green = breeding range Yellow = winter range

The Red-throated Diver, known in North America as Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) is the smallest and most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family.

[edit] Description

The Red-throated Diver is typically 55-67 cm (24" to 27") in length with a 91-110 cm wingspan. Breeding adults have a grey head, thick neck, red throat, white underparts and dark mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin, foreneck and much of the face white. Its thin upturned bill is grey in summer and whitish in winter, though the change may occur at a different time to the change in plumage. As an adaptation for diving its nostrils are narrow and elongated. Its iris is red. It weighs between one and 1.2 kg. The call is an a yodelling high-pitched wailing.

[edit] Distribution

G. stellata, European range. Breeding range in red, areas where vagrants occur in winter circumscribed green.

Breeding in northern Eurasia and Arctic Canada, the Red throated Diver winters over a much wider range on coasts and on large lakes. It breeds mostly on fresh water but still feeds largely in the sea even when breeding, thus allowing it to breed on small lakes than Black-throated Diver, which feeds on freshwater lakes, but is more tied to coastal environments.

[edit] Behaviour

This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, diving over 7.5 m (25 feet) to catch its prey. Although loons are very clumsy on land, the red-throated diver is able to walk longer distances. It is even able to take off directly from land, the only species of diver that can. It flies with neck outstretched. After breeding time it moves to coastal waters. The Red-throated Diver spends long hours caring for its plumage. Its complex bathing practices involves diving, rolling and wing shaking. It has also a very ritualized mating behavior. It is monogamous, forming long-term pair bonds. Copulation takes place on land and is repeated frequently.

[edit] Other names

Other regional names include Cape drake, cape race, cobble, little loon, pegging-owl loon, pepper-shinned loon, rain-goose, scape-grace, sprat loon.

[edit] Conservation status

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

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2004). Gavia stellata. 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
• Ivory, A. 1999. "Gavia stellata" (Online), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed August 06, 2006 Gavia stellata. Database entry includes justification for the ability to take off from land.
• www.borealforest.org Gavia stellata. Database entry includes justification for the ability to take off from land.