Black-throated loon: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the black-throated loon lives – recorded in 36 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Gavia arctica
Group	Seabirds, divers & grebes
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	36 countries
Continents	Asia, Europe, North America
Class	Bird
Order	Gaviiformes
Family	Gaviidae

Where does the black-throated loon live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the black-throated loon in 36 countries and territories across Asia, Europe and North America. In Belgium it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the black-throated loon endangered?

The black-throated loon’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the black-throated loon?

The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica) is a bird in the order Gaviiformes and the family Gaviidae, genus Gavia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the black-throated loon

The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica), also known as the Arctic loon and the black-throated diver, is a migratory aquatic bird found in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily breeding in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia. It winters along sheltered, ice-free coasts of the north-east Atlantic Ocean and the eastern and western Pacific Ocean. This loon was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 and has two subspecies. It was previously considered to be the same species as the Pacific loon, of which it is traditionally considered to be a sister species, although this is debated. In a study that used mitochondrial and nuclear intron DNA, the black-throated loon was found to be sister to a clade consisting of the Pacific loon and two sister species, the common loon and the yellow-billed loon.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Black-throated loon (revision 1354909991), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q184432 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).