Divers, East Scotland, February 2018 (1 Viewer)

A couple of recent sightings of Divers off the east coast of Scotland that I'm undecided as to what I'm looking at. First 2 photos are of a bird (#1a) off Carnoustie, Angus on Sunday past, in the company of a fairly typical Red Throated Diver (I think, but am not 100%, that the right bird in 3rd pic, is the same bird as in first 2. Next 2 are of possibly the same bird (#1b) later in the afternoon, from a different viewing point.

The photos in second post are of a couple of birds (#2) seen in the waves off Ruddon's Point, Fife on Wednesday. Struggled to get good views in the chilly wind blowing in our faces, and it may be that there's really not enough to go on.

birds #2

The pictures are very small. Why don't you upload them again in a higher solution? Would increase the chance of an ID I suppose...

Unfortunately, the birds were very distant, and the photos are cropped to get already to get the detail that is there in the photos. That's the main reason that I'm struggling to decide on IDs for them.

It's hard to be certain with these but I don't see anything in any of the pictures to make me go beyond Red-throated, which is very much the commonest diver in eastern Scotland.

The last bird is certainly a Red-throated - both on "warm" grey head colour and slim, upturned bill. Not sure the photos in post #1 are identifiable unless a version with more pixels is available.

Andrew, that was the conclusion I'd come to with the birds in the 1st post, though the bill being held horizontally was making them seem a bit odd - though size-wise if the bird in photo 3 is the same bird as in 1 & 2 (and 4 &5) then there really isn't anything else it could be. The straight neck down to the water also pointed towards that conclusion. There were at least 80 RTDs counted later out in the bay, so it seems safe to go with RTD for #1 birds.

The birds in the 2nd post seemed to bear some resemblance in the photos to the illustrations in the Collins Bird Guide of Black Throated Diver's head from behind with little white showing at the sides (and that because of angle of head) and also darkening at the base, as in the illustrations. Unfortunately, the birds were very hard to find among the waves and we lost sight of them within 20 seconds of finding them with the camera. I couldn't rule out Red Throated for those either. As always, I've posted here for opinions, in case there's something (perhaps obvious) I've missed.

Steve, the line that appears to be the bill in the photo in the second pic in post 2, is I think part of the wave, rather than the bill of the bird, (which I think would be at too steep an angle for the head if it was 'attached' being more "5 mins to", rather than "10 minutes to"). The bill is marginally more obvious in 3rd pic and seems to point straight out from the head, rather than angled up - though that could just be my interpretation of what I'm seeing, rather than actuality.