Habitat
During the breeding season shallow pools on upland moors and bogs, occasionally large lakes and other bodies of water as well as coasts. Outside the breeding season frequents the coast, especially shallow, sandy bays.
Austria (NB), Azerbaijan (NB), Belgium (NB), Bulgaria (NB), Canada (B) (P), China (mainland), Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (NB), Czech Republic (NB), Denmark (NB) (P), Estonia (NB) (P), Faroe Islands (B) (NB), Finland (B) (NB) (P), France (NB) (P), Georgia, Germany (NB) (P), Greece (NB), Greenland (B), Hungary (NB), Iceland (B) (NB), India, Iran [Islamic Republic of], Ireland (B) (NB), Italy (NB), Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia (NB) (P), Lithuania (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (NB), Mexico, Moldova [Republic of] (NB), Montenegro (NB), Netherlands Antilles (NB), North Korea, Norway (B) (NB) (P), Pakistan, Poland (NB) (P), Portugal (NB), Romania (NB), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B) (P), Serbia (NB), Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (NB), Slovenia (NB), South Korea, Spain (NB), St Pierre and Miquelon (B) (P), Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (B), Sweden (B) (NB) (P), Switzerland (NB), Taiwan (China), Turkey (NB), Turkmenistan, Ukraine (NB), United Kingdom (B) (NB), USA (B).
Vagrant to Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gambia, Gibraltar, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mongolia, Morocco, Tunisia.
Holarctic, breeding generally north of 50° northern and far into high Arctic. Winters mainly along northern coasts of Atlantic and Pacific, also in Great Lakes, and Black, Caspian and Mediterranean Seas.
Population
Estimated population is 200,000 - 590,000 (2010).
Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) [XC478901]
by Stanislas Wroza from Stokkseyri, Southern Region, Iceland (begging call)
Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) [XC790886]
by Gr\u00e9goire Chauvot from H\u00e4ll\u00f6gern; V\u00e4sterbotten, Sweden (call, flight call)
Nest
Either directly on the ground or on a heap of water-weeds, close to water, having a characteristc slipway leading to it from the water.
Eggs (Guide)
2; olive-green, spotted with brown; cylindrical. Incubation: about 28 days; by both sexes.
Young
Thickly covered in mouse-brown down. Like that of the Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica), only slightly smaller. Fledge in about 43 days but they leave the nest within about 24 hours. They are fed by both sexes.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet