Yellow-billed Loon Gavia adamsii Scientific name definitions

The Yellow-billed Loon, known in Europe as the White-billed Diver, is a relatively rare bird nesting in arctic tundra regions of North America and Eurasia. This species was first described by G. R. Gray in 1859 (1 Gray, G. R. (1859). Description of a new species of diver (Colymbus). Proc. Zool. Soc. 27:167. Close ), and named (Gavia adamsii) after the surgeon Dr. Edward Adams (who collected the first specimen) aboard the H.M.S. Enterprise on a voyage through Bering Strait. The Yellow-billed Loon is closely related and similar in appearance to the Common Loon (G. immer), but distinguished from the latter by bill shape and color. Further, the Yellow-billed Loon breeds generally north of the range of its more widespread relative, although the 2 species overlap on marine wintering grounds in the Pacific Northwest. Increasingly, however, vagrant Yellow-billed Loons have been recorded wintering well inland in North America, a phenomenon that likely stems in part from improved information on field identification of loons in Basic plumage.

During the breeding season, the Yellow-billed Loon occupies lakes and slow-moving rivers in low-lying tundra regions, entirely north of the tree-line, where it nests on islands and shorelines and forages for fish and invertebrates in nearby waters. Often arriving before lake ice has fully retreated, it sometimes feeds at ice edge, even diving beneath the ice in pursuit of prey. A strongly territorial species, each pair defends its lake (or portion thereof) against intruding members of its own species, other loons, and even diving ducks. Parents share incubation duties and feeding of the chicks, which are brooded onshore when very young.

Few ecological studies of this species have been conducted because of its remote breeding range and low population densities. Most of the information on this species comes from northern Alaska with relatively few studies conducted in western Alaska and the Canadian arctic. Sjölander and Ågren (2 Sjölander, S., and G. Ågren (1976). Reproductive behavior of the Yellow-billed Loon Gavia adamsii. Condor 78:454–463. Close ) described behaviors and calls during an 8-week study of renesting pairs at Alaktak, 80 km southeast of Barrow, Alaska. North and Ryan (3 North, M. R. (1986). Breeding biology of Yellow-billed Loons on the Colville River Delta, arctic Alaska. M.S. thesis, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA. Close , 4 North, M. R., and M. R. Ryan (1988). Yellow-billed Loon, Gavia adamsii, breeding chronology and reproductive success in arctic Alaska. Canadian Field-Naturalist 102:485–490. Close , 5 North, M. R., and M. R. Ryan (1989). Characteristics of lakes and nest sites used by Yellow-billed Loons in arctic Alaska. Journal of Field Ornithology 60:296–304. Close ) studied Yellow-billed Loon habitat use, foraging ecology, reproductive success, nest-site characteristics, and breeding season chronology in the late 1980s on the Colville River Delta in northern Alaska. Recently, studies in northern Alaska examined territory retention (6 Schmutz, J. A., K. G. Wright, C. R. DeSorbo, J. Fair, D. C. Evers, B. D. Uher-Koch, and D. M. Mulcahy (2014). Size and retention of breeding territories of Yellow-Billed Loons (Gavia adamsii) in Alaska and Canada. Waterbirds 37(sp1):53–63. Close , 7 Uher-Koch, B. D., K. G. Wright, and J. A. Schmutz (2019). The influence of chick production on territory retention in Arctic breeding Pacific and Yellow-billed loons. Condor: In Press. Close ), foraging ecology (8 Haynes, T. B., J. A. Schmutz, J. F. Bromaghin, S. J. Iverson, V. M. Padula, and A. E. Rosenberger (2015). Diet of Yellow-billed Loons (Gavia adamsii) in Arctic lakes during the nesting season inferred from fatty acid analysis. Polar Biology 38:1239-1247. Close ), nest survival (9 Uher-Koch, B. D., J. C. Koch, K. G. Wright, and J. A. Schmutz (2018). Comparative nest survival of three sympatric loon species breeding in the Arctic. Journal of Avian Biology 49:e01671. Close ), nest site selection among loon species (10 Haynes, T. B., J. A. Schmutz, M. S. Lindberg, and A. E. Rosenberger (2014). Risk of predation and weather events affect nest site selection by sympatric Pacific (Gavia pacifica) and Yellow-billed (Gavia adamsii) loons in Arctic habitats. Waterbirds 37(sp1):16-25. Close , Solovyeva et al. 2017, 9 Uher-Koch, B. D., J. C. Koch, K. G. Wright, and J. A. Schmutz (2018). Comparative nest survival of three sympatric loon species breeding in the Arctic. Journal of Avian Biology 49:e01671. Close ), competition (11 Haynes, T. B., J. A. Schmutz, M. S. Lindberg, K. G. Wright, B. D. Uher-Koch, and A. E. Rosenberger (2014). Occupancy of Yellow-billed and Pacific loons: Evidence for interspecific competition and habitat mediated co-occurrence. Journal of Avian Biology 45:296-304. Close ), exposure to disease (12 Van Hemert, C., T. J. Spivey, B. D. Uher-Koch, T. A. Atwood, D. R. Sinnett, B. W. Meixell, J. W. Hupp, L. G. Adams, D. D. Gustine, A. M. Ramey, and H. Wan (2019). Survey of Arctic Alaskan wildlife for influenza A antibodies: limited evidence for exposure of mammals. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 55:387–398. Close , 13 Uher-Koch, B. D., T. J. Spivey, C. R. Van Hemert, J. A. Schmutz, K. Jiang, X. F. Wan, and A. M. Ramey (2019). Serologic evidence for influenza A virus exposure in three loon species breeding in Alaska. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Close ), impacts of disturbance (14 Uher-Koch, B. D., J. A. Schmutz, and K. G. Wright (2015). Nest visits and capture events affect breeding success of Yellow-billed and Pacific loons. Condor 117:121–129. Close , 15 Johnson, C. B., A. N. Wildman, A. K. Prichard, and C. L. Rea (2018). Territory occupancy by breeding Yellow-billed Loons near oil development. Journal of Wildlife Management doi: 10.1002/jwmg.21592. Close ), and migration patterns (16 Paruk, J. D., D. C. Evers, J. A. Schmutz, C. DeSorbo, K. Wright, I. Johnson, J. Fair, D. M. Mulcahy, and S. McCloskey (2011). Migration and post-breeding movements of Yellow-billed Loons breeding on the North Slope, Alaska. Biodiversity Research Institute Report 2011-32. Close , 17 Uher-Koch, B. D., J. A. Schmutz, M. E. Whalen, and J. M. Pearce (2014). Changing Arctic Ecosystems – Ecology of Loons in a Changing Arctic. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2014–3093. Close ). Earlier general observations on breeding biology were made by Sutton (18 Sutton, G. M. (1963). On the Yellow-billed Loon. Wilson Bulletin 75:83–87. Close ), Parmelee et al. (19 Parmelee, D. F., H. A. Stephens, and R. H. Schmidt (1967). The birds of Southeastern Victoria Island and adjacent small islands. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 222. Close ), and Sage (20 Sage, B. L. (1971). A study of White-billed Divers in Alaska. British Birds 64:519–528. Close ). Most other information on Yellow-billed Loon breeding biology and distribution comes from accounts of early expeditions to the arctic (e.g., 21 Stone, W. (1900). Report on the birds and mammals collected by the McIlhenny Expedition to Pt. Barrow, Alaska. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1900:4–49. Close , 22 Dixon, J. (1916). Migration of the Yellow-billed Loon. Auk 33:370-376. Close , 23 Bailey, A. M. (1948). Birds of Arctic Alaska. Colorado Museum of Natural History, Popular Series 8. Close ) or from studies of habitats and other species (e.g., 24 Manning, T. H., E. O. Höhn, and A. H. MacPherson (1956). The birds of Banks Island. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 143, Biological Series 48. Close , 25 Smith, T. G. (1973). The birds of the Holman region, western Victoria Island. Canadian Field-Naturalist 87:35–42. Close , 26 Derksen, D. V., T. C. Rothe, and W. D. Eldridge (1981). Use of wetland habitats by birds in the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska. U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. Close ).