With a bit of north in the wind and a slight drop in temperature, Little Auks were a potential highlight today, so as I cycled up the track to the dunes I was hoping for a half-decent seawatch. It was a gorgeous morning again with blue skies, bright sun and a crisp feel in the air. I set up and enjoyed the view and the fresh air.
There wasn’t much activity, with only Gannets and a few divers on the move south. Wildfowl were very thin on the ground and there was little promise of much else. I stuck it out but my enthusiasm was waning – unlike the moon, which was still very much full. However, things did eventually improve when as I did a sweep with bins, I picked up a diver coming north, about 400m out. As the other divers had been going south this was of interest. Upon setting eyes on it, I immediately noticed it gave a larger impression than I would have expected for a Red-throated. The wingbeats were slightly more measured too. “Could well be a Great Northern” I ventured, and quickly got it in the scope.
A quick look at the neck revealed a clear lack of a dark half collar and a neater, less dark and less thick neck overall than a typical Great Northern. I realised it was a Black-throated Diver and quickly went over all the important areas.
A slightly larger and more rakish diver than a Red-throated, with an appearance of slightly longer and thinner wings and a perceptibly slower wingbeat. The upperparts were very dark, appearing almost black at times and the underparts were white. The neck looked a little longer and the feet were clearly more prominent than on the large majority of Red-throated. Overall, the bird gave the impression of being longer and of carrying itself much more on the horizontal. The neck, for instance was held level in flight and not at all drooped or lowered as is often the case with a Red-throated. The back too, was level and flat, and with the feet coming out at the rear, the whole bird gave the impression of a longer, flatter, very level diver. The bill was obvious in flight but wasn’t the large and heavy dagger of a Great Northern and was held level. Although I watched the bird for a long period as it flew through until it was out of sight, it only once raised its head compared to the more frequent raising and lowering of the Red-throateds.
As the bird moved away north, the ingress of white on the rear flank actually showed as a prominent bright white spot or blob. I really enjoyed this bird. There are very scarce here indeed and are only recorded in Oct-Nov on a just about annual basis. One positive of being so familiar with Red-throateds here, is that everything else tends to stand out like a sore thumb. All of that looking critically at every Red-throated Diver eventually pays off and is very rewarding. I get a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction from such birding.
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