Divers - NW UK (1 Viewer)

hi

would someone more experienced with the red throat, black throat and great northern divers let me know if they think that these birds would be in breeding plumage by now. (i'm not thinking black throat so much, mind you).

I was in the outer hebrides over easter and saw -

1. a solitary bird, clearly a diver, of good size (in my mind i immediately proportioned its body to a goose), flattish on the crown, dark body, no white side flashes, white throat and the hint of a dark collar coming forward low on the neck. location was a small rocky inlet leading out to open sea.

i cant think this would be anything but a GND and although few would remain here by this stage in the year, any that did i might expect to be more into breeding plumage. thoughts ?

2. a raft of 5 birds, seen at a good distance thru bins, light black bodies with hints of white at the side (very white underneath when rolling to tend to feathers), light grey from the back of the neck to the crown and more extensive white coming up the neck to the bill. bill held up from horizontal. seen in open sea off a sandy beach. again - thoughts ? red throat ?

(i have a photo of 1. that i could post in a few days but only video footage of 2.)

ta

GND weren't in breeding plumage when I saw them 3 weeks ago in Gruinard Bay, nor at Staines Reservoir on Monday.

There are likely to be lots of divers in a whole variety of plumages in western Scotland at the moment. From your descriptions I think your identifications are probably right.

cheers folks, interesting comments - reassuring !

i didnt add them to the vacation report i posted, just in case.

I have little experience of GND from this time of the year (it's a major rarity in Finland), but at least adult Black-throated and Red-throated Divers are in breeding plumage now (at least those that are seen in Finland, don't know about birds that haven't started their spring migration yet). The birds which look like winter plumaged birds are first summer birds (they don't acquire an adult like breeding plumage at all).

those are interesting points, thanks.

as an aside, i'm considering a visit to the Aland Islands this summer - gulls, gulls and nothing but gulls do you think ?

Divers are very variable in my experience, on Monday in the Solway in Cumbria i saw 7 Red Throated divers varying from full summer plumage to complete winter plumage. I dont know if the age of the bird makes any difference, maybe non breeders stay in winter plumage longer ? There was also a single black Throated which was also mainly in winter plumage. I've certainly seen GN Divers in early April still in winter plumage. Your ids sound good to me.

cheers Nick

thorin said:

I dont know if the age of the bird makes any difference, maybe non breeders stay in winter plumage longer ?

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The age does make a difference, first summer divers look mostly like winter plumage birds, like I wrote in my previous message. Red-throated Divers acquire adult-type features faster than the bigger species, and first-summer birds may partly look like adults.

andy hunter said:

as an aside, i'm considering a visit to the Aland Islands this summer - gulls, gulls and nothing but gulls do you think ?

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Well, there's certainly going to be a lot more birds than just gulls, for example lots of Common Eiders and Arctic Terns (even if you wouldn't do any birding). White-tailed Eagle is nowadays pretty common (in winter you can pretty easily see tens of them in a day), and other perhaps more interesting species (for a Briton) might be Caspian Tern, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Nutcracker, Thrush Nightingale, Marsh Warbler, Icterine Warbler, Barred Warbler, Red-backed Shrike, Slavonian Grebe, Crane, Common Rosefinch etc. Also Blyth's Reed Warbler, River Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Wryneck and Red-breasted Flycatcher might be possible to find.

that is great news, thank you. with a little familial co-operation i should manage some of those !

previously i have only seen 1 black throat of the divers, hence the need for some reassurance !

Most species are much easier to find if you know the song/calls and which habitat they prefer. If you visit Åland in July or August, many species might be very difficult to find, as they have stopped singing.

The majority of GNDs will be in non-breeding plumage at this time of year, (in fact, from recollection of aerial surveys of the area in April and late March I don't think I ever saw a bird in breeding plumage) Your description sounds like a GND and it is the most likely diver in the area at this time of year.

The second description certainly sounds good for RTD. A bit more localised in the western isles than GND but at this time of year could turn up anywhere. There seems to be much more variation in plumages in redthroats as well.

I was in Scotland about this time last year.
Adult Black Throated and Red Throated were in full breeding plumage on the fresh water lochs, but all the Great Northerns between Loch Ewe, Gruinard Bay and Loch Broom were still in winter plumage. Did not see any other divers on the sea though.
Had hoped for White Billed of which several have been seen in that area recently, and presumably they too will still be in winter plumage.
I think that the only GND I've seen in breeding plumage in the Hebrides was towards the end of May.