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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Divers (1 Viewer)

astley

Well-known member
Hi All

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on Divers, and looking for basic info on where they breed etc.

In the last couple of weeks I have been lucky enough to see a Great Northern at Draycote Water, and a Black Throated at Swithland res. What has struck me more than anything is their apparent tameness, both Divers appeared very close to the Dam wall and could be viewed very clearly without the need for optics.

Yesterday there must have been a good 30 birders watching the Diver and he was within 20 feet and totally oblivious to his 5 minutes of fame.

Is their tameness down to the fact they have regular human contact, or is human contact rare to them so they do not fear the humans clicking away.

Either that or I have just been really lucky to have got so close to my first Divers.
 
Hi All

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on Divers, and looking for basic info on where they breed etc.

In the last couple of weeks I have been lucky enough to see a Great Northern at Draycote Water, and a Black Throated at Swithland res. What has struck me more than anything is their apparent tameness, both Divers appeared very close to the Dam wall and could be viewed very clearly without the need for optics.

Yesterday there must have been a good 30 birders watching the Diver and he was within 20 feet and totally oblivious to his 5 minutes of fame.

Is their tameness down to the fact they have regular human contact, or is human contact rare to them so they do not fear the humans clicking away.

Either that or I have just been really lucky to have got so close to my first Divers.

First-winter birds are often very confiding because breeding in the far North they have little contact with humans. After that the experiences they have colour their behaviour. This winter there seem to be plenty of confiding divers around - very nice too.

John
 
In derbyshire at carsington reservoir in recent times we have been getting upto 4 great northern divers adults and immatures in the winter some of these birds remaining into springtime they seem to like it here.
 
Once I saw some teenagers throwing a rock at one of these birds, right next to the bank. "Hey, I hit a duck!" :C
Then they were away for a decade or so (scared away?). I saw them again this winter. Fortunately, level of awareness about birds off riverbank has significantly risen in the meantime, thanks to swans; last winter a large flock of swans appeared and people flocked to feed them, getting accustomed to all waterbirds in the process.
 
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