A photo of a Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii)
Yellow-billed Loon

Yellow-billed Loon

Gavia adamsii

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. The main distinguishing feature from great northern loon is the longer straw-yellow bill which, because the culmen is straight, appears slightly uptilted. 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.
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Yellow-billed Loons on Birda

Photos

Sightings

A map showing the sighting location
🐿
Rachael Friese
Sunday 29 Jan 2023 - 10:33am
United States
A photo of a White-billed Diver photographed in Salisbury Beach State Reservation--Black Rock Creek United States
🦅
Brian Smith
Thursday 22 Dec 2022 - 8:20pm
United States
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Stephen Davies
Friday 17 Jun 2022 - 1:59pm
United States
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Stephen Davies
Thursday 16 Jun 2022 - 12:42pm
United States
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