Breeding adult. Photo: Tom Wilberding/Flickr (CC BY NC ND 2.0)
Gavia adamsii
| Conservation status | World population has been estimated at under 10,000, with half of these in Alaska. Vulnerable to oil spills and other pollution in the Arctic, and to the effects of climate change. |
|---|---|
| Family | Loons |
| Habitat | Tundra lakes in summer; coastal waters in winter. Breeds in high Arctic tundra region, often on large lakes but also on smaller lakes if good feeding areas are nearby; may fly up to 5 miles from nest site to feeding areas on rivers, coastal lagoons. In winter on ocean, generally on bays, inlets, among island groups; rarely on large lakes in interior. |
Loons do their foraging by diving from the surface and swimming underwater. They often swim along the surface with their heads partly submerged, peering about underwater, watching for prey before they dive. They are propelled mainly by their feet, but may sometimes use their wings also when turning or in bursts of speed. Loons find their food by sight.
2. Brown or olive, spotted with blackish-brown. Incubation period 27-29 days; both parents incubate. Young: Leave nest 1-2 days after hatching. Adults very aggressive in defense of downy young. Young are fed by both parents, sometimes ride on parents' backs. Second chick of brood often disappears a few days after hatching. Age at first flight not known, probably about 12 weeks. One brood per year.
Leave nest 1-2 days after hatching. Adults very aggressive in defense of downy young. Young are fed by both parents, sometimes ride on parents' backs. Second chick of brood often disappears a few days after hatching. Age at first flight not known, probably about 12 weeks. One brood per year.
Probably mostly fish. Diet not well known. Apparently feeds mainly on small to medium-sized fish, including sculpin, tomcod, rock cod; also crustaceans and mollusks, probably some insects in summer. Young may eat some plant material.
May mate for life. In courtship displays, pairs dip bills in water repeatedly; splash-dive and swim past each other underwater. Nest: Male may select site, both sexes probably help build nest. Site is always very near water, on island or shore, and may be partly hidden by surrounding vegetation. Nest, often re-used from year to year, is a mound of tundra vegetation with depression at center; sometimes turf is overturned to form a mud foundation.
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.
Environmental groups head to court to fight energy development plan that will damage pristine wilderness and critical habitat and deepen the climate crisis.
The administration's push to drill for oil in the Arctic Refuge and Teshekpuk Lake, places set aside explicitly to protect wildlife, puts us all at risk, biologist Jeff Fair writes.
Rushed and faulty process gives green light to massive and permanent destruction of Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain, an irreplaceable habitat for birds and other wildlife
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