White-billed Diver, Eccles on Sea, Sept 4 2017, T.E. Allwood, A.J. Kane, M.D. Fiszer

A White-billed Diver was seen off Eccles for two hours, ranging from 300-500m for most of the observation, out to around 1 km before being lost to view. The bird dived occasionally but was on view for most of the observation period. The light was good and flat, it being somewhat overcast. This was the third record of the species in the square (following a dead bird at Winterton on Apr 11 1996 and the bird seen by Andy Kane at Eccles-on-Sea Nov 7 2007). Remarkably, a fourth individual lingered for a few days in the Winterton / Hemsby area in Oct 2017 and was photographed by Sean Offord.

Approaching 15:00, I was stood having a coffee in AJK’s kitchen discussing this morning’s sightings. We decided to go for another look on the sea and continue the discussion there as there wasn’t much else doing bird-wise. As we walked up the steps, Andy stopped to talk to the Environment Agency staff working there. I carried on the last 20 yards and proceeded to set up.

I got my scope up and looked down the eyepiece, and virtually the first bird I saw was a large diver 300m at most offshore. I instantly got excited about the bird and started shouting Andy who although very close by was out of sight. He didn’t answer and I started shouting louder. After a minute or so he came through the fence and I shouted to him to
get a move on. “Have a look at this!” I exclaimed. He had a quick look through my scope while still standing up, and then started to set up his own scope up. By now, for several reasons, I was getting very excited. Andy looked through his scope and almost straightaway said “It’s a White-billed Diver!”

We spent the next few minutes or so watching the bird, noting several features of the head, neck, bill and posture, almost in disbelief. I remember swearing a lot and laughing at the bird “Its bill’s pointing upwards all the time!” “The bill’s ******* white!” etc. Andy bolted back indoors and fetched a copy of Collins for us to triple check everything, but there was little need. We called Mick Fiszer, telling him to get over here pronto as there was a White-billed Diver sat settled on the sea. We continually watched the bird as it drifted around, still fairly close in. By the time MDF arrived around 30 minutes later, the bird had begun to slowly drift south, but was still on view almost the whole time enabling Mick to see it well over a prolonged period too. After around two hours of observation the bird was eventually left somewhere off Eccles / Sea Palling.

Detailed Description
Structure: The very first thing I noticed on the bird, and in hindsight was what got me so excited, was the posture of its neck, head and bill. In my very first view, the bird was looking directly up at me, showing a very long neck but no apparent bill. I was actually looking straight down the end of its bill, which was pointing up at my elevated position. It continually held its head at this upward pointing angle throughout almost the entire two hours of observation. I have never seen a Great Northern Diver do this, even for a short period. The neck of the bird was notably thick and the head was notably large and heavy looking, giving it an overall impression of being a very large diver indeed. When seen next to a Cormorant later on, it looked like a monster.

Bill: The bill was large, thick-based and obviously pale. It was held pointing upwards but was often hard to see well against a pale sea and was best seen against the bird’s body when it appeared a lovely creamy white on the distal half. The inner half had a subtle yellow/buttery wash, merging into a creamy, ivory-toned outer half. There was a limited dark area of feathering at the start of the culmen, but beyond this both the cutting edges, the culmen and the outer half of the bill were totally unmarked. This detail could be seen well through a scope at around 30x and was very striking at 45x. The unmarked outer half of the bill tended to make it disappear against the background. A Great Northern Diver would have shown a greyer-toned bill, with clearly dark cutting edges and would have been dark down the entire culmen. Even a paler-billed example would have shown a dark culmen and dark cutting edges on the outer half of the bill. The upturned effect of the bill was present but not pronounced due to the bill being held upwards. The head and bill, held angled upwards were reminiscent of a huge Red-throated Diver most of the time.

Plumage: In my initial views of the bird head on, I noticed that the plumage was rather brown-toned and messy, as opposed to the rather neater, clear cut and more contrasting, darker plumage of a Great Northern Diver. There was a collar present but this was more an indent above, with a bit jutting out below, fuzzier than on a Great Northern and less clear cut or obvious, making the neck look plainer overall, with less going on. There was also a thin pale brown chinstrap present too. The neck and head were a dark-brown tone and looked rather blotchy and fuzzy with messy edges. I remember remarking that I thought it looked like a car that had been sprayed rather badly, rather than the crisp and dark plumage of a Great Northern. The eye surround was quite pale causing the eye to stand out more than on a Great Northern and the cheek too looked paler when seen at a greater distance giving an effect of a huge Red-throated Diver or even a Red-necked Grebe in terms of the head pattern, as the brown tones on the cheek area almost ‘disappeared’ over greater distances.

The mantle was rather non-descript with some markings being noticed but no obviously scaly pattern. The bird was possibly a first-summer individual.

The size, posture, bill and plumage of the bird all made for a straightforward identification of White-billed Diver once the initial panic and excitement had died down. Having said that, I still get a tingle when I think even of it even now. This was my first White-billed Diver in the square, having missed AJK’s fly-by individual in my first year here (2007). I never expected my first to be sat on the sea for two hours in September. Yet another reminder that you never know what the day’s going to bring bird-wise. An awesome experience.