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Pacific Diver
last update: Mar 04, 2009 11:04 AM
Also known as the Pacific Loon
Latin name: Gavia pacifica
Population: 930,000-1,600,000 individuals
Cites classified: Least Concern
Where found: It breeds on deep lakes in the tundra region of Alaska and northern Canada as far east as Baffin Island, and in Russia east of the Lena River. It winters at sea, mainly on the Pacific coast, or on large lakes over a much wider range, including China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, USA and Mexico.
Age/ life expectancy:
Wingspan: 110-128 cm
Length: 58-74 cm
Weight: 1-2.5 kg
Mating/Breeding: Both sexes build a nest on the shore of the mainland, or on an island. They pull up a heap of vegetation from around the nest site and arrange it into a pile with mud. Occasionally the nests are floating. Both adults incubate the two eggs. Shortly after hatching, the young leave the nest, although for a few days they return periodically to sleep. Both parents feed the young.
Eggs: variable shades of buff, brown, and olive-green; 1-2 eggs
Hibernation: Winters on ocean waters along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Mexico and from Korea to China
Hunting Habits: dives and seizes prey with its bill
Feed on: fish and aquatic invertebrates
Predators: gulls, foxes, jaegers, and ravens
Colour/Body: Breeding adults are like a smaller sleeker version of Great Northern Diver. They have a grey head, black throat, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin and foreneck white. Its bill is grey or whitish and dagger-shaped. In all plumages, lack of a white flank patch distinguishes this species from the otherwise very similar Black-throated Diver.
Interesting Trivia:
- The Pacific and Arctic loons are extremely similar and were formerly considered the same species. Where the two species meet in western Alaska and eastern Siberia, the Arctic Loon has a greenish patch on its throat. Arctic Loons from the rest of Eurasia have purplish throats similar to that of the Pacific Loon.
- Like other loons, the Pacific Loon walks extremely awkwardly on land, and cannot take flight from land at all. It requires about 30-50 meters of open water to take flight, flapping and pattering across the surface.
