I. General Attributes and Evolutionary Relationships

• Main Author: Paul A. Johnsgard
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1987
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.692.6516; http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article%3D1002%26context%3Dbioscidivingbirds

Loons, grebes, and auks comprise a rather large number of species of aquatic diving birds that are fairly un-familiar to most people, inasmuch as they tend to spend much of their time well away from shore and, when ap-proached on the water, usually dive inconspicuously and reappear a considerable distance away. Thus in many areas grebes, simply called "helldivers, " are often confused with coots or even diving ducks. Many people know loons only by their wild, penetrating cries and ro-mantically associate them with northern woods and lakes, while auks are symbolic of arctic coastal cliffs. But ornithologists can find fascinating examples of con-vergent or parallel evolution in avian locomotory and foraging behaviors among these bird groups. They also offer a host of problems of more general ecological and