Loons
| Divers / Loons Temporal range: ?Late Eocene – Recent (see text) 37–0 Ma |
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| The Pacific loon (Gavia pacifica) is the sister species of the black-throated loon (G. arctica) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gaviiformes |
| Family: |
Gaviidae Coues, 1903 |
| Genus: |
Gavia Forster, 1788 |
| Diversity | |
| 5 species | |
| Synonyms | |
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Family-level: Genus-level: |
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Family-level:
Colymbidae Vigors, 1825 (but see text)
Colymbinae Bonaparte, 1831 (but see text)
Urinatores Vieillot, 1818
Urinatoridae Vieillot, 1818
Urinatorides Vieillot, 1818
Genus-level:
Colymbus Linnaeus, 1758 (but see text)
Urinator Lacépède, 1799
The loons (North America) or divers (UK/Ireland) are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus Gavia, family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes.
The loon, the size of a large duck or small goose, resembles these birds in shape when swimming. Like ducks and geese but unlike coots (which are Rallidae) and grebes (Podicipedidae), the loon's toes are connected by webbing. The bird may be confused with cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae), which are not too distant relatives of divers and like them are heavy set birds whose bellies – unlike those of ducks and geese – are submerged when swimming. Flying loons resemble plump geese with seagulls' wings that are relatively small in proportion to the bulky body. The bird points its head slightly upwards during swimming, but less so than cormorants. In flight the head droops more than in similar aquatic birds.
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