''Gavia howardae'' is an extinct species of loon from the Piacenzian age from United States. Fossils of this bird were initially found in 1947 by Clifford Kennell in the San Diego Formation, California and were given a name in 1953 by

Pierce Brodkorb William Pierce Brodkorb (September 29, 1908, Chicago – July 18, 1992, Gainesville, Florida) was an American ornithologist and paleontologist. Interested in birds since childhood, he was taught to prepare birds at the age of 16. Later, he rec ...

. These first specimens consisted of humeri bones, which Brodkorb indicated based on the distal end of the humerus were a smaller species of the genus ''Gavia'', with a possible relationship with the

pacific loon The Pacific loon or Pacific diver (''Gavia pacifica''), is a medium-sized member of the loon, or diver, family. Taxonomy and etymology The Pacific loon, previously considered conspecific with the similar black-throated loon, was classified as ...

(''G. arctica''). More specimens were collected from the same deposits covering the entirety of the wing, some more complete than others. Chandler (1990) described and published these new materials and found ''G. howardae'' to be related to the

red-throated loon The red-throated loon (North America) or red-throated diver (Britain and Ireland) (''Gavia stellata'') is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family, it breeds prim ...

(''G. stellata'') instead. Additional material has been recovered from the

Yorktown Formation The Yorktown Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in the Coastal Plain of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It is overconsolidated and highly fossiliferous. Description The Yorktown is composed largely of overconsolidated san ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

where in addition more wing bones, there were also remains of the leg and shoulder regions. Based on the overall size of the remains, ''G. howardae'' was on average smaller than the red-throated loon, and one of the smallest species of Neogene loons from North America.

References

Gaviiformes Prehistoric birds {{paleo-bird-stub