The Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) is the smallest of Sweden's loons — a slender waterbird with a distinctively thin bill held slightly upturned — with the unusual habit of nesting on tiny, fish-poor forest tarns while flying far to larger lakes or the sea to fish. It is a true migrant with the widest range of any loon, breeding across both the Nearctic and Palearctic in the northern hemisphere, and it is red-listed as Vulnerable (VU) in Sweden, its decline linked partly to deteriorating water quality in fishing waters and disturbance at breeding tarns. It measures 53–69 cm with a wingspan of 106–116 cm and weighs 1.0–2.5 kilograms. In summer plumage the back is uniformly greyish-brown without distinct spots, the crown and neck sides grey, and a rust-red, drop-shaped patch marks the foreneck; the thin bill is held characteristically tilted upward. In winter plumage the upperparts turn grey-black with fine white spotting and the underparts white; overall it is slimmer and neater than the Great Northern Diver.
Its calls are haunting and unforgettable — in display flight and at the breeding tarn it gives plaintive, wailing "aa-oo" cries and yelping, cackling sequences that carry far over quiet forest and bog, mainly at dawn and dusk during May–June; a lone Red-throated Loon calling at its tarn on an early June morning ranks among the most powerful experiences of the Swedish forest landscape. It breeds in northern Sweden and into northern parts of Svealand and Götaland, centred on Norrland's forest and bog country, with a national population estimated at 2,000–4,000 pairs; it arrives in April and leaves in September. The nest sits right at the water's edge on a small tarn, often close enough for the bird to slip straight into the water, and the female lays 2 eggs; because the breeding tarn is often fishless, the parents fly several kilometres to fetch food for the chicks. The diet is almost entirely fish, caught by diving, and the species may fly 10–20 km from the nest to reach suitable fishing waters.
Read about this species in Swedish →