Guide to North American Birds

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Photo: Aaron Budgor/Flickr Creative Commons

Pacific Loon

Gavia pacifica

This loon is hardly "Pacific" in summer -- its breeding range extends across northern Canada as far east as Hudson Bay and Baffin Island. However, the great majority of these birds head west to the Pacific Coast to spend the winter.

Conservation status	Numbers apparently stable. Would be vulnerable to pollution in offshore wintering areas.
Family	Loons
Habitat	Ocean, open water; in summer, tundra lakes. Breeds mainly on lakes surrounded by tundra, also lakes within forested country; often overlaps with Red-throated Loon, but requires larger and deeper bodies of water. In winter, mostly on ocean, often farther from shore than Red-throated or Common loons.

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Feeding Behavior

Forages by diving from surface and swimming underwater, propelled mainly by feet. May dip head into water repeatedly, looking for prey, before diving.

Eggs

2, sometimes 1, rarely 3. Brown, with blackish-brown spots. Both sexes incubate (although female does more), 23-25 days. Young: Leave nest shortly after hatching, return to nest for resting and sleeping during first few days. Both parents feed young. Adults may fly several miles from nesting territory to other waters to feed and to bring back food for young. Age at first flight probably 60-65 days. One brood per year.

Young

Leave nest shortly after hatching, return to nest for resting and sleeping during first few days. Both parents feed young. Adults may fly several miles from nesting territory to other waters to feed and to bring back food for young. Age at first flight probably 60-65 days. One brood per year.

Diet

Includes fish, crustaceans, insects. Diet varies with place and season. Apparently eats mostly small fish when these are available, especially in winter and on ocean. Also eats crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic insects, and some plant material, especially during breeding season.

Nesting

May mate for life. Courtship displays include ritualized bill-dipping and splash-diving by both members of pair. Less aerial display than in Red-throated Loon. Very aggressive in defense of nesting territory, and has been seen to kill ducklings that strayed near nest. Nest: Site is almost always at edge of water, on shore or island, sometimes in shallow water. Nest (probably built by both sexes) is a heap of vegetation pulled up from around nest site, sometimes mixed with mud or with mud foundation; may rarely build floating nest.

Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
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Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds

Migration

Found inland rarely in fall and very rarely in spring. Therefore, birds may either make long overland flights or travel long distance around Alaska en route between wintering areas on Pacific Coast and breeding grounds in central Canadian Arctic. Northbound migrants along Pacific Coast may travel in flocks several miles offshore, usually less than 60' above water; avoid flying on days with strong headwinds.