Where can you see the Black-throated Loon?
Some of the best places to see the Black-throated Loon in the wild include Baikal National Park (Russia), Sarek (Sweden) and Espacio Natural Remolar-Filipinas (Spain) — among 86 wildlife hotspots across 17 countries, including the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden and Russia. Every hotspot below shows real sighting data and the best seasons to visit.
Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Alaska, United States
+391 birds+58 mammals
Where the North Pacific collides with Alaska's rugged coastline, a sprawling archipelago of islands, rocky outcrops, and coastal headlands forms one of North America's most remote…
VIEW WILDLIFE SANCTUARYAltai Tavan Bogd National Park
Tsengel, Mongolia
+146 birds+3 mammals
Where the Altai Mountains rise in jagged defiance along Mongolia's western frontier, the terrain transforms into a realm of alpine tundra, rocky plateaus, and glacier-carved valleys…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKÅsnens National Park
Kronoberg County, Sweden
+141 birds+8 mammals
Where forest meets water in the heart of Kronoberg County, Åsnens National Park unfolds across roughly 57 square kilometres of southern Swedish landscape, a mosaic of…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBaikal National Park
Ольхонский район, Russia
+184 birds+11 mammals
Where the world's deepest freshwater lake meets ancient Siberian taiga, Baikal National Park sprawls across 66,203 square kilometers of one of Earth's most singular ecosystems. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBeinn Eighe National Nature Reserve
Kinlochewe, United Kingdom
+56 birds+6 mammals
Where granite mountains rise from the Torridon landscape, Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve sprawls across 4,800 hectares of some of Scotland's most dramatic terrain. Quartzite peaks…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEBiałowieża National Park
Bialowieza, Poland
+177 birds+23 mammals
Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, this primordial forest landscape encompasses one of Europe's last remaining expanses of old-growth woodland, where ancient trees rise through…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBiebrza National Park
Goniądz, Poland
+242 birds+33 mammals
Where the Narew River sprawls across northeastern Poland's flatlands, Biebrza National Park unfolds as one of Europe's largest and most ecologically vital wetland complexes. Encompassing roughly…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCabo Peñas
Susacasa, Spain
+303 birds+21 mammals
Where sea cliffs rise sheer from the Bay of Biscay, Susacasa's observation point commands one of Asturias's most dramatic coastal vistas. The landscape here is defined…
VIEW OBSERVATION POINTCairngorms National Park
Muir, United Kingdom
+192 birds+31 mammals
Where ancient granite massifs rise above the Scottish Highlands, a subarctic wilderness unfolds across 1,748 square kilometres of raw, elemental terrain. Windswept plateaus give way to…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCamargue Regional Nature Park
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France
+378 birds+48 mammals
Where the Rhône Delta sprawls into the Mediterranean, a landscape of stark and haunting beauty emerges—vast salt marshes punctuated by shallow lagoons, reed beds, and scrubland…
VIEW NATURAL PARKCap de Creus Natural Park
Roses, Spain
+245 birds+23 mammals
Where the Pyrenees tumble into the Mediterranean, Cap de Creus Nature Park unfolds across 300 square kilometres of one of northeastern Spain's most dramatic coastal wilderness…
VIEW NATURAL PARKCirceo National Park
Italy
+232 birds+6 mammals
Where limestone headlands plunge toward the Tyrrhenian Sea, Circeo National Park preserves a rare mosaic of Mediterranean coastal habitats that few Italian reserves can match. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDanube Delta Biosphere Reserve
Tulcea, Romania
+277 birds+27 mammals
Where the Danube surrenders to the Black Sea, a vast labyrinth of channels, reed beds, and freshwater lakes sprawls across nearly 13,400 square kilometers of eastern…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDelta de l’Ebre Natural Park
Eucaliptus, Spain
+341 birds+18 mammals
Where the Ebro River spreads into a vast labyrinth of shallow lagoons, reed beds, and brackish marshes before surrendering to the Mediterranean, one of southern Europe's…
VIEW NATURAL PARKDovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park
Trøndelag, Norway
+127 birds+17 mammals
Granite peaks and deep valleys carved by ancient glaciers define this vast mountain wilderness straddling the spine of central Norway. Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park rises where subalpine…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDuna-Ipoly National Park
Dömös, Hungary
+208 birds+19 mammals
Where the Danube curves through central Hungary, the limestone hills and forested valleys of Duna-Ipoly National Park create a landscape that feels caught between seasons and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKEryri National Park
Gwynedd, United Kingdom
+199 birds+36 mammals
Where granite peaks rise abruptly from the Snowdonia landscape, Eryri National Park encompasses one of Britain's most dramatic mountain terrain. The park's rugged plateaus, deep glacial…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKEspacio Natural Remolar-Filipinas
El Prat del Llobregat, Spain
+297 birds+7 mammals
Where the Llobregat River delta meets the Mediterranean, a patchwork of salt marshes, reed beds, and shallow lagoons creates one of Catalonia's most dynamic wetland ecosystems.…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEFärnebofjärden National Park
Gävleborgs län, Sweden
+170 birds+20 mammals
Where the Gävle River widens into a sprawling delta before meeting the Gulf of Bothnia, Färnebofjärden National Park unfolds across a landscape of exceptional ecological complexity.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKForsinard Flows National Nature Reserve
Highland, United Kingdom
+35 birds+7 mammals
Across the Flow Country of northern Scotland, vast blankets of blanket bog stretch toward the horizon in seemingly endless waves of heather, cotton grass, and sphagnum…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEGargano National Park
Cagnano Varano, Italy
+219 birds+7 mammals
Where the Gargano Peninsula's limestone plateaus descend toward the Adriatic, Cagnano Varano sits at the threshold of one of southern Italy's most ecologically vital landscapes. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKGreat Orme National Nature Reserve
Llandudno, United Kingdom
+113 birds+7 mammals
Limestone cliffs rise dramatically from the Irish Sea along the Conwy coast, their windswept summits offering sanctuary to a mosaic of heathland, grassland and rocky outcrops…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEHarz National Park
Harz (LK Goslar), Germany
+141 birds+38 mammals
Where granite peaks rise above beech and spruce forests, the Harz unfolds as one of Germany's most biodiverse upland landscapes. Straddling the border between Lower Saxony…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKHolkham National Nature Reserve
North Norfolk, United Kingdom
+235 birds+11 mammals
Where Norfolk's coastal flatlands meet the North Sea, Holkham National Nature Reserve unfolds across nearly 4,000 hectares of some of England's most dynamic and least predictable…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEHortobágy National Park
Hortobágy, Hungary
+260 birds+17 mammals
Across the North Great Plain of Hungary stretches one of Europe's most expansive semi-natural grassland systems, where horizon-wide vistas of steppe and wetland create a landscape…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKIsojärvi National Park
Kuhmoinen, Finland
+81 birds+2 mammals
Across the forested landscape of central Finland, where the Pirkanmaa region rolls gently beneath boreal skies, lies a landscape of water and woodland that defines the…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKJasmund National Park
Sassnitz, Germany
+136 birds+7 mammals
Towering chalk cliffs rise abruptly from the Baltic shoreline, their luminous white faces sculpted by millennia of wind, frost, and wave action into one of northern…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKJunkerdal National Park
Nordland, Sweden
+81 birds+8 mammals
Where deep river gorges slice through the high plateaus of northern Scandinavia, Junkerdal National Park reveals the raw architecture of boreal wilderness. The park's defining feature…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKauhaneva–pohjankangas National Park
Kauhajoki, Finland
+72 birds+1 mammals
Across the boreal flatlands of South Ostrobothnia rises a landscape shaped by ice-age geology and millennia of ecological succession—Kauhaneva–pohjankangas National Park, spanning some 208 square kilometres…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKerkini Lake National Park
Serres, Greece
+291 birds+18 mammals
Where the Strymon River widens into a sprawling freshwater lake hemmed by the Rhodope Mountains, Kerkini National Park unfolds across northern Greece as one of southeastern…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKhoridol Saridag National Park
Khatgal, Mongolia
+164 birds+6 mammals
Where granite peaks thrust skyward across Mongolia's remote southeastern reaches, a landscape of raw geological drama unfolds. Deep river gorges carved through ancient stone create a…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKosterhavets National Park
Västra Götalands län, Sweden
+211 birds+9 mammals
Where the west coast of Sweden dissolves into an archipelago of granite skerries and pine-clad islands, Kosterhavets National Park emerges as one of northern Europe's most…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKurjenrahka National Park
Nousiainen, Finland
+114 birds+3 mammals
Across the forests and wetlands of southwestern Finland, Kurjenrahka National Park spans 112 square kilometres of the kind of landscape that defines the boreal transition zone—a…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKL’Albufera Natural Park
València, Spain
+321 birds+18 mammals
Where shallow lagoons meet Mediterranean coastal marshland, L'Albufera Nature Park unfolds as one of Spain's most vital wetland complexes. This protected landscape, designated under IUCN Category…
VIEW NATURAL PARKLahemaa National Park
Lääne-Viru County, Estonia
+237 birds+25 mammals
Where the Baltic coast meets temperate forest in northwestern Estonia, Lahemaa National Park sprawls across more than 1,300 square kilometers of deeply character-filled terrain. Coastal wetlands…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLake District National Park
Westmorland and Furness, United Kingdom
+209 birds+36 mammals
Where slate fells rise steeply from mirror-still waters, the Lake District unfolds as one of Britain's most ecologically intricate mountain landscapes. The park's patchwork of deep…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLiesjärven National Park
Tammela, Finland
+83 birds
Across the heart of Finland's lake-studded landscape, where boreal forest meets wetland and granite bedrock surfaces through thin glacial soils, Liesjärven National Park sprawls across roughly…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLindisfarne National Nature Reserve
Holy Island, United Kingdom
+240 birds+13 mammals
Windswept tidal flats and rocky outcrops define this reserve on Holy Island, where the North Sea's relentless rhythm shapes both landscape and wildlife. The terrain shifts…
VIEW NATURE RESERVELoch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park
Duchray, United Kingdom
+188 birds+40 mammals
Where ancient woodlands rise from glassy lochs and rugged Highland peaks pierce the lowland horizon, Scotland's most biodiverse landscape unfolds across 720 square kilometres of wild…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLosiny Ostrov National Park
Balashikhinsky District, Russia
+173 birds+20 mammals
Across the forested plateaus of Moscow Oblast, where the Losinka River winds through mixed woodland and marshy clearings, lies a national park that captures the ecological…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park
Norderney, Germany
+193 birds+12 mammals
Where the North Sea meets the German coast, a vast expanse of tidal mudflats, salt marshes, and shallow waters creates one of Europe's most dynamic estuarine…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKMuddus / Muttos National Park
Norrbottens län, Sweden
+128 birds+7 mammals
Where boreal forest meets wetland across the high plateaus of Swedish Lapland, Muddus National Park unfolds as one of northern Europe's most pristine wilderness sanctuaries. Vast…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNational Park Djerdap
Mehedinți, Romania
+127 birds+5 mammals
Where the Danube carves its most dramatic passage through southeastern Europe, the Djerdap Gorge defines the boundary between Romania and Serbia, and within this UNESCO-recognised landscape…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNorra Kvill National Park
Kalmar County, Sweden
+67 birds+1 mammals
Granite bedrock and ancient boreal forest converge in this small but ecologically significant pocket of Kalmar County, where the landscape tells the story of Sweden's glacial…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNorth York Moors National Park
North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
+234 birds+32 mammals
Across the high moorlands of North Yorkshire, where heather and bilberry sprawl beneath vast skies, the landscape rises and falls in gentle undulation—a patchwork of open…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNuuksio National Park
Espoo, Finland
+135 birds+12 mammals
Across the forested plateaus and rocky shorelines of southern Finland, where granite bedrock pierces through boreal woodland just twenty kilometers northwest of Helsinki, lies a landscape…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKØvre Dividal National Park
Troms, Norway
+78 birds+3 mammals
Where granite plateaus rise above the Arctic tundra in northernmost Troms, Øvre Dividal National Park unfolds across a landscape shaped by ice-age geology and subarctic climate.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPaanajärvi National Park
Panozero, Russia
+27 birds+1 mammals
Where granite peaks rise abruptly from boreal wilderness, pristine lakes mirror Nordic skies across one of Europe's last genuinely wild frontiers. This remote corner of northwestern…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPadjelanta
Norrbotten County, Sweden
+119 birds+6 mammals
Where the Scandinavian plateau rises into a landscape of low, rolling fells and vast moorlands, Padjelanta National Park sprawls across 3,435 square kilometres of subarctic wilderness…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPäijänne National Park
Padasjoki, Finland
+84 birds
Across the Päijät-Häme region of south-central Finland, where glacial action has carved a landscape of ridges, lakes, and mixed boreal forest, Päijänne National Park sprawls across…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Muonio, Finland
+137 birds+19 mammals
Where boreal forest meets fell, across the Finnish Arctic frontier, nearly 3,650 square kilometres of pristine subarctic wilderness unfold in a landscape sculpted by glacial epochs…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKParcial C Marina de les Medes Nature Reserve
Torroella de Montgrí, Spain
+93 birds
Where the Costa Brava's limestone cliffs plunge into crystalline Mediterranean waters, the Parcial C section of Marina de les Medes Nature Reserve protects one of Catalonia's…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEPatvinsuo National Park
Lieksa, Finland
+134 birds+1 mammals
Across eastern Finland's borderlands, where boreal forest meets waterlogged terrain, Patvinsuo National Park sprawls across roughly 185 square kilometers of one of northern Europe's most intact…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPembrokeshire Coast National Park
Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom
+250 birds+41 mammals
Where the Cambrian coastline meets the Celtic Sea, cliff-top moorland and hidden coves define a landscape carved by 300 million years of geological drama. Pembrokeshire Coast…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPort-Cros National Park
Hyères, France
+271 birds+29 mammals
Where Mediterranean granite islands rise from crystalline waters off the Provençal coast, Port-Cros National Park protects one of Europe's most intact marine and terrestrial ecosystems. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPyhä-Luosto National Park
Pelkosenniemi, Finland
+113 birds+6 mammals
Where boreal forest meets fell landscape in Finnish Lapland, Pyhä-Luosto National Park sprawls across 616 square kilometres of terrain that embodies the raw essence of the…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKRago National Park
Nordland, Sweden
+36 birds+2 mammals
Where granite gorges slice through boreal forest in Nordland's remote interior, Rago National Park preserves one of Scandinavia's most dramatic mountain landscapes. The park's deeply incised…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKRegional Park of the Catalan Pyrenees
Olette, France
+244 birds+63 mammals
Where granite peaks thrust skyward above cloud-laden valleys, a wild tapestry of Mediterranean and alpine ecosystems interweaves across the Franco-Spanish frontier. These Pyrenean slopes harbour extraordinary…
VIEW NATURE RESERVERepovesi National Park
Kouvola, Finland
+61 birds+1 mammals
Where glaciated ridges rise through boreal forest and pristine lakes mirror the Nordic sky, Repovesi National Park sprawls across 45 square kilometres of southwestern Finland's most…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKRokua National Park
Muhos, Finland
+36 birds
Across the boreal landscape of North Ostrobothnia, where glacial forces sculpted the terrain during the last ice age, Rokua National Park emerges as a 60-square-kilometre mosaic…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSarek
Norrbotten County, Sweden
+119 birds+8 mammals
Where granite gorges cut through boreal wilderness and meltwater streams cascade across weathered plateaus, Sarek National Park sprawls across nearly 3,100 square kilometres of Swedish Lapland's…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSchleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park
Germany
+378 birds+49 mammals
Where the North Sea ebbs and flows across a vast expanse of exposed mud and sand, the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park reveals one of Europe's most…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSeven Sisters National Nature Reserve
Eastbourne, United Kingdom
+190 birds+15 mammals
Where the South Downs meet the English Channel, the chalk cliffs of Seven Sisters rise in a dramatic sequence of white promontories that have shaped both…
VIEW NATURE RESERVESipoonkorven National Park
Sipoo, Finland
+94 birds+6 mammals
Where boreal forest meets the Baltic coast, Sipoonkorven National Park sprawls across 70 square kilometres of south-western Finland, a landscape shaped by the slow retreat of…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSkuleskogen
Nätra District, Sweden
+158 birds+11 mammals
Where boreal forest meets the raw Höga Kusten coastline, Skuleskogen National Park unfolds across nearly 47 square kilometers of one of northern Sweden's most dramatic landscapes.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSłowiński National Park
Smołdzino, Poland
+217 birds+16 mammals
Where the Baltic shoreline surrenders to vast inland dunes and freshwater lagoons, Słowiński National Park spans nearly 610 square kilometres of one of Europe's most dynamic…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSouth Downs National Park
Chichester, United Kingdom
+298 birds+45 mammals
Chalk downland ridges rise and fall across the South Downs, their open grasslands and beech hangers creating a mosaic of habitats that has shaped human settlement…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSt. Paul Island
Saint Paul, United States
+255 birds+8 mammals
Windswept tundra rolls across this remote Pribilof island, where volcanic basalt cliffs plunge into the Bering Sea and fog rolls in thick enough to erase the…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEStelvio National Park
Valfurva, Italy
+116 birds+17 mammals
Where granite peaks rise above three thousand metres and alpine meadows give way to rocky scree, Stelvio National Park guards one of Europe's most dramatically vertical…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKStenshuvuds National Park
Skåne län, Sweden
+224 birds+19 mammals
Where limestone cliffs rise sharply above the Øresund Strait, Stenshuvuds National Park commands the southeastern tip of Skåne, a landscape carved by glaciation into rolling beech…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKStora Sjöfallet
Norrbotten County, Sweden
+150 birds+10 mammals
Where granite plateaus rise above boreal forest and ice-carved valleys plunge toward rushing rivers, Stora Sjöfallet unfolds across nearly 3,300 square kilometres of pristine subarctic wilderness…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKStrandzha Nature Park
Kondolovo, Bulgaria
+215 birds+19 mammals
Where the Rhodope Mountains descend toward the Black Sea coast, ancient forests rise above limestone plateaus in a tapestry of ecological richness rarely found elsewhere in…
VIEW NATURAL PARKSyöte National Park
Taivalkoski, Finland
+80 birds+1 mammals
Across nearly two thousand square kilometres of North Ostrobothnian wilderness, Syöte National Park unfolds a landscape where boreal forest meets open fell, where swift rivers carve…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKTaganay National Park
Кусинский муниципальный округ, Russia
+82 birds+9 mammals
Where granite ridges thrust through the boreal landscape of the southern Urals, Taganay National Park reveals a wilderness shaped by ancient geology and a subarctic climate…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKTeijo National Park
Salo, Finland
+121 birds+3 mammals
Across the low, forested plateaus of Southwest Finland, where gentle bedrock ridges emerge through dense coniferous and mixed woodland, lies a landscape sculpted by ice-age glaciation…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKThe Lizard National Nature Reserve
Garras, United Kingdom
+120 birds+2 mammals
Where windswept moorlands meet rocky outcrops along Cornwall's dramatic southern coast, the Lizard National Nature Reserve unfolds as one of southwest England's most ecologically distinctive landscapes.…
VIEW NATURE RESERVETransbaikal National Park
Barguzinsky Rayon, Russia
+83 birds+7 mammals
Where the eastern shore of Lake Baikal meets the Barguzinsky Range, a vast wilderness of boreal forest, alpine tundra, and rocky shoreline unfolds across more than…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKUrdaibai Biosphere Reserve
Txatxarramendi, Spain
+268 birds+8 mammals
Where the Pyrenean foothills surrender to the Bay of Biscay, tidal estuaries carve through Basque limestone, creating one of Europe's most ecologically vital wetland complexes. Salt…
VIEW BIOSPHERE RESERVEUrho Kekkonen National Park
Sodankylä, Finland
+122 birds+11 mammals
Across nearly 2,700 square miles of boreal wilderness in Lapland, where the Arctic Circle's influence shapes every ecosystem, lies a landscape dominated by dense spruce and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKVadvetjåkka National Park
Norrbottens län, Sweden
+41 birds+5 mammals
Subarctic plateaus and deep river valleys define this remote corner of Swedish Lapland, where boreal forest gives way to open moorland and montane tundra across a…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKValdai National Park
Валдайский муниципальный округ, Russia
+102 birds+5 mammals
A tapestry of boreal forest, glacial lakes, and wetland complexes spreads across the Novgorod Oblast landscape, where Valdai National Park anchors one of Russia's most ecologically…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKValdaysky National Park
Валдайский муниципальный округ, Russia
+102 birds+5 mammals
Rolling glacial hills rise and fall across the Novgorod Oblast landscape, their slopes mantled in dense boreal forest that stretches toward a horizon punctuated by countless…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKVorpommersche Boddenlandschaft National Park
Küstengewässer einschließlich Anteil am Festlandso, Germany
+230 birds+19 mammals
Where the Baltic coast dissolves into a labyrinth of shallow lagoons and coastal wetlands, Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft National Park protects one of northern Europe's most dynamic and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKWigry National Park
Czerwony Folwark, Poland
+130 birds+8 mammals
Where glacial lakes cut through northeastern Poland's primordial forests, Wigry National Park sprawls across 368 square kilometers of one of Europe's least disturbed wilderness tracts. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKWolin National Park
Kamień County, Poland
+232 birds+21 mammals
Where the Baltic shoreline meets vast wetland complexes and Pleistocene woodlands, Wolin National Park unfolds across nearly 440 square kilometres of northwestern Poland's most biodiverse terrain.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKYorkshire Dales National Park
North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
+169 birds+25 mammals
Limestone pavements and deep limestone gorges carved by glaciation dominate the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales, creating a landscape of exceptional geological drama where moorland plateaus…
VIEW NATIONAL PARK