Yellow-billed loon
Species of bird / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The yellow-billed loon (Gavia adamsii), also known as the white-billed diver, is the largest member of the loon or diver family. Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin and foreneck white. Its main distinguishing feature is the long straw-yellow bill which, because the culmen is straight, appears slightly uptilted.
Yellow-billed loon | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Gaviiformes |
Family: | Gaviidae |
Genus: | Gavia |
Species: | G. adamsii |
Binomial name | |
Gavia adamsii (Gray, 1859) | |
Range of G. adamsii Breeding range Wintering range |
It breeds in the Arctic and winters mainly at sea along the coasts of the northern Pacific Ocean and northwestern Norway; it also sometimes overwinters on large inland lakes. It occasionally strays well south of its normal wintering range, and has been recorded as a vagrant in more than 22 countries. This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, catching its prey underwater. Its call is an eerie wailing, lower pitched than the common loon.