Yellow-billed Loon

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Yellow-billed Loon by Lisle Gwynn / Macaulay Library

Loons

Yellow-billed LoonGavia adamsii

ORDER: Gaviiformes
FAMILY: Gaviidae

Basic Description

The Yellow-billed Loon is a beautiful behemoth of a loon, the largest and rarest of the world’s five species. Breeding adults are spectacular with their immaculate black-and-white plumage, deep red eyes, and yellow, daggerlike bill. Males fill their tundra breeding grounds with haunting, far-carrying yodels, and pairs deliver strident, laughlike tremolos when alarmed. These consummate waterbirds are powerful swimmers and divers, skillfully catching fish underwater on both freshwater breeding lakes and remote coastal wintering grounds in the northern Pacific Ocean.

More ID Info

Year-roundBreedingMigrationNonbreeding

Range map provided by Birds of the World

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Other Names

Colimbo de Adams (Spanish)
Plongeon à bec blanc (French)

Cool Facts
- How do Yellow-billed Loons keep their feet warm in frigid arctic waters? They occasionally stretch a leg, waggle the webbed foot, and then place it under the wing for a warm respite. To see this clever strategy in action, and to experience these magnificent birds in their arctic breeding grounds, explore this short Cornell Lab video about Yellow-billed Loons.
- Outside of the Americas, loons are known as “divers,” and with good reason—Yellow-billed Loons can swim for more than 200 meters (650 feet) underwater. At Alaska’s Colville River delta, average Yellow-billed Loon dives last just over 45 seconds, with a maximum length of 108 seconds.
- Yellow-billed Loons nest in arctic Russia and winter in small numbers in northern Europe, where they are known as White-billed Divers.
- Loons are well equipped for submarine fishing maneuvers. Unlike most birds, loons have solid bones that make them less buoyant and better at diving. They can quickly blow air out of their lungs and flatten their feathers to expel air within their plumage, so they can dive quickly and swim fast underwater. Once below the surface, the loon’s heart slows down to conserve oxygen.
- In addition to being skilled swimmers, Yellow-billed Loons are strong fliers too. This species has been clocked flying at speeds of 40 mph.
- Yellow-billed Loons choose an unusual time to replace all of their wing feathers. They are flightless for 4–6 weeks on their nonbreeding grounds just before spring migration as they replace all of their primaries and secondaries nearly simultaneously.
- The oldest recorded Yellow-billed Loon was at least 10 years and 1 month old when it was found dead in Alaska in 2006.