White-billed Diver

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White-billed Diver
Conservation status
Least concern (LC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae Genus: Gavia Species: G. adamsii
Binomial name
Gavia adamsii (Gray,GR, 1859)

The White-billed Diver, known in North America as Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii), is the largest member of the loon or diver family, at 77-90cm in length with a 135-150 cm wingspan, although it is only marginally larger than the similar Great Northern Diver.

It breeds in the Arctic in Russia, Alaska and Canada and winters at sea mainly off the coasts of Norway and western Canada; it may sometimes be found on large inland lakes in winter.

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 Diver is the longer straw-yellow bill which, because the culmen is straight, appears slightly uptilted.

This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, catching its prey underwater.

The call is an eerie wailing, lower pitched than Great Northern Diver.

The scientific name of this bird is after the naval surgeon Edward Adams.

The White-billed Diver is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2004). Gavia adamsii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern