Great Northern Diver facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Great Northern Diver

Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gaviiformes
Family:	Gaviidae
Genus:	Gavia
Species:	G. immer
Binomial name
*Gavia immer* (Brunnich, 1764)

The great Northern diver or common loon is a bird. It belongs to the diver family of birds. Adult birds are between 70 and 90 cm in length, and have wingspans of 1.20 metres to 1.50 metres.

The Great Northern Loon breeds in North America, Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland. This species winters on sea coasts or on large lakes of south Europe and the United States, and south to northwestern areas of Africa.

Flying in Vermont, USA

Gavia immer

This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater. It catches its prey underwater, diving as deep as 200 feet (60 m). Freshwater diets include pike, perch, sunfish, trout, and bass; salt-water diets consist oinclude rock fish, flounder, sea trout, and herring.

The female lays 1 to 3 eggs on a hollowed-out mound of dirt and vegetation very close to water. Both parents build the nest, sit on the egg or eggs, and feed the young.

Images for kids

Common loon stretching
In Bodega Bay, California
Juvenile swimming in the ocean off Mcgee Island, Maine
Foraging
On a nest by water in Maine, U.S.
Egg
Cassell's book of birds, ca 1875

Great Northern Diver facts for kids

Images for kids

See also