White-billed Diver

White-billed diver
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Gaviformes Family: Gavidae Genus: Gavia Species: adamsii
Binomial name
Gavia adamsii

White-billed Diver, known in North America as Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii) is the largest member of the Loon or Diver family, although it is only marginally larger than the similar Great Northern Diver.

It breeds in the Arctic in Russia and Canada and winters at sea mainly off the coasts of Norway and western Canada.

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 banana-like yellow bill held above the horizontal. It fies with neck outstretched.

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.