NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Yellow-billed Loon
Gavia adamsii (G. R. Gray, 1859)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The yellow-billed loon (Gavia adamsii), also known as the white-billed diver, is the largest member of the loon or diver family. Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts and a chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin and foreneck white. Its main distinguishing feature is the long straw-yellow bill, which, because the culmen is straight, appears slightly uptilted.
It breeds in the Arctic and winters mainly at sea along the coasts of the northern Pacific Ocean and northwestern Norway; it also sometimes overwinters on large inland lakes. It occasionally strays well south of its normal wintering range and has been recorded as a vagrant in more than 22 countries. This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, catching its prey underwater. Its call is an eerie wailing, lower-pitched than the common loon.
Wikipedia contributors, Yellow-billed loon; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:16:13.091213+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gavia adamsii (G. R. Gray, 1859)
- Name authority
- (G. R. Gray, 1859)
- Common name
- Yellow-billed Loon
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Gaviiformes
- Family
- Gaviidae
- Genus
- Gavia
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderGaviiformes
- familyGaviidae J. A. Allen, 1897
- genusGavia J. R. Forster, 1788
- speciesGavia adamsii (G. R. Gray, 1859)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Gavia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Arctic LoonGavia arctica (Linnaeus, 1758) | GaviidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common LoonGavia immer (Brünnich, 1764) | GaviidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pacific DiverGavia pacifica (Lawrence, 1858) | GaviidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-throated DiverGavia stellata (Pontoppidan, 1763) | GaviidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Colymbus adamsii G. R. Gray, 1859 G. R. Gray, 1859 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
North America
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174470 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3FFP4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.