Tuesday 4 January 2011

Great Northern Diver, Great Northern Loon, Common Loon

A comment in my last entry prompted me to do this post. One of my favourite followers from Montana asked the question, is the Great Northern Diver the same species as the North American Common Loon? The answer is yes, the Great Northern Diver, The Great Northern Loon and the Common Loon are the same species, their Latin name is Gavia Immer. Their main range is in North American breeding in deep water lakes and bays in woodland, but a breeding population of 300 to 500 birds exists in Iceland. These are more likely, the Great Northern Loons, we see, overwintering in Cornwall, the far south west of England. So thanks for that Mona, that will teach me to be more accurate with my narratives, and to anyone who hasn't checked out Montana girls blog just click on this link below it is well worth it. http://girlinmontana.blogspot.com/
I have uploaded two images I took about a year ago of a Great Northern Loon I captured in Newlyn Harbour.








4 comments:

  1. Two fabulous images old and new,like the research work.
    I agree with you Sam,Mona's Blog is well worth a look.
    Outstanding sharp detail,both images.
    John.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, thank you for this post! That clarifies matters for me. They looked so similar, I just knew they had to be closely related or be the same species. Your images are just perfect of this beautiful bird. We had a pair of Common Loons on a nearby Lake all summer, but I could never get very close to them, so my images aren't nearly as good as yours! And thank you for your kind words about my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice couple of images Sam< i Like the sky reflection in the second image. Informative post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great images on your last few posts Sam.
    Happy New Year to you both.

    ReplyDelete