Pacific Loon Gavia pacifica 太平洋潛鳥
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
Slightly larger and thicker in the neck than Red-throated Loon with a straighter bill, more decurved culmen and steeper forehead often rising to an obvious bump above the eye. In flight neck does not sag so much. Adult non-breeding has plain dark grey upperparts, grey bill with dark culmen and tip, and lacks white patch between dark flanks and dark undertail coverts. First-winters (illustrated) have pale fringes to upperpart feathers. Adult breeding has black throat.
VOCALISATIONS
The commonly uttered call is a deep, throaty ‘kao’ or ‘krraow’. It is unclear if this is given in the non-breeding season.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT PREFERENCE
The sole record was on the sea near Lung Kwu Chau.
OCCURRENCE
The sole record is of a bird seen on 19 February 1997 near Lung Kwu Chau (Leader 1999).
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
No information.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Monotypic. Breeds largely in Alaska and north Canada north of 55oN as far as east of Hudson Bay. Breeding populations also in northeast Siberia on the Arctic coast, Central Asia and possibly western Greenland. In Asia winters in coastal areas of Japan and Korea south to eastern China, and in North America along the Pacific coast as far south as Mexico (Russell 2020). In China a migrant and winter visitor to areas north from Jiangsu; scattered records inland (Liu and Chen 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend increasing.
Leader, P. J. (1999). Pacific Loon: the first record for Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird Report 1997: 114-117.
Liu, Y. and Y. H. Chen (eds) (2020). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
Russell, R. W. (2020). Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.pacloo.01
