The Red-throated Diver is a circumpolar species that
breeds north to approximately 79° N in the polar desert zone of Severnaya Zemlya (Belikov
and Randla 1987). To the south, the species breeds down to mid taiga, as far as 61°50' N
along the Yenisey River, where breeding was recorded on a small lake to the west of the
river near Komsa in 1958. However, the species is found more frequently near the northern
boundary of mid taiga; 1.2 birds/km2, for example, were found in the Yeloguy
River flood-plain on the lower reaches of the river. It is more common on small bodies of
water in the tundra zone; in western Taimyr it averages 1-3 pairs for every 10 lakes
(Krechmar 1966). The species is rare outside of the tundra zone.
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