Great Northern Diver? Whittle Dene Reservoirs, Northumberland, England. (1 Viewer)

[Richard Duffy]

Hello,

I saw the bird in the attached photos at Whittle Dene Reservoirs, Northumberland, England on Sunday, 14 March 2021. I have tried using the bird identifier feature on the RSPB website listing the beak as white. Of the few results that the feature returns, a Great Northern Diver is the closest match I can find for the bird. When looking at the results from a Google image search on the bird, I am unsure as to whether the bird is a Great Northern Diver. Can anyone help clarify what the bird is, please?

Best,
Richard

 

[Andy Hurley]

Hello and welcome to Birdforum Richard! I think your bird is a young Great Cormorant.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Hi Rich and welcome to BirdForum from all the staff and moderators. Your bird is a Cormorant.

Rich

 

[tconzemi]

it's an immature Great Cormorant

 

[Richard Duffy]

Hello Andy, Clark and Tom,

Thank you for helping/clarifying and for such a swift reponse.

The bird identifier on the RSPB site does not return a Cormorant in the results based on the colour of the beak, but upon looking the bird up on their website, they have an illustration that would match the photos well. I will be sure to dig a little harder in the future to try and find the coreect match.

Best,
Richard