---
title: "Arctic Loon"
description: "Gavia arctica — Birds. The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica), also known as the Arctic loon and the black-throated diver, is a migratory aquatic bird found in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily breeding in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/arctic-loon
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Arctic Loon

> Gavia arctica — Birds. The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica), also known as the Arctic loon and the black-throated diver, is a migratory aquatic bird found in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily breeding in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia.

- Scientific name: *Gavia arctica*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers), `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 7617
- Wikidata: [Q184432](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184432)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4623](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4623)

## Names

- en: Arctic Loon
- de: Prachttaucher
- es: Colimbo ártico
- fr: Plongeon arctique
- nl: Parelduiker
- pt: Mobelha-árctica
- pl: Nur czarnoszyi

## Countries with the most observations

RU (2652), UA (751), FI (695), SE (431), GB (213), NO (193), DE (181), IT (179), KR (149), US (115), FR (100), AT (82)

## Summary

The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica), also known as the Arctic loon and the black-throated diver, is a migratory aquatic bird found in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily breeding in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia. It winters along sheltered, ice-free coasts of the north-east Atlantic Ocean and the eastern and western Pacific Ocean. This loon was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 and has two subspecies. It was previously considered to be the same species as the Pacific loon, of which it is traditionally considered to be a sister species, although this is debated. In a study that used mitochondrial…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-throated_loon

## Photo

![Arctic Loon](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/arctic-loon/medium.jpg)

Photo: Лариса Артемьева · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/242118900

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/arctic-loon?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).