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| 1 | 2 |  » Stats |
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27-12-2011, 10:50 PM
|  | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: North London
Posts: 388
| | | Red throated divers?
I know this is a really bad photo but thought these might be a pair of red throated divers. They were doing that pointing beak up in the air thing that I associate with divers but still a fair way out to see so not that sure.
Anyone able to tell from my very pixellated image? 
Laura  |
28-12-2011, 08:00 AM
|  | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 10,729
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
Great northern divers |
28-12-2011, 06:45 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: London/ Essex/ Herts border.
Posts: 2,755
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogghound  Great northern divers | I would tend to agree.
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28-12-2011, 06:54 PM
|  | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 951
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
I tried to blow them up without success. Not "Throated" Divers may just be 1st year Great Northern or may even be winter great Crested Grebe from that distance. Where were they? |
28-12-2011, 08:20 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: North London
Posts: 388
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
In Shetland so great northerns sounds more likely. Thanks all. Think we saw some purple sandpipers today.
Laura |
29-12-2011, 08:12 AM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: North Yorkshire
Posts: 10,729
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigdave60dog I tried to blow them up without success. Not "Throated" Divers may just be 1st year Great Northern or may even be winter great Crested Grebe from that distance. Where were they? | They are the wrong structure and shape for grebes and show to much dark coloration on the head. There is no way that you could age these birds from this photo. The only other species these could be is yellow/white billed divers, but realistically great northern is the most likely explanation here. |
29-12-2011, 09:35 AM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 13,607
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
Agree they don't look like grebes to me- wrong shape/pattern + probably Great Northern divers. |
29-12-2011, 10:50 AM
| | Officer of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 951
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogghound They are the wrong structure and shape for grebes and show to much dark coloration on the head. There is no way that you could age these birds from this photo. The only other species these could be is yellow/white billed divers, but realistically great northern is the most likely explanation here. | You obviously do not come across wintering juvenile Great Crested Grebes. They do vary in the proportion of white to dark on the head. Shape varies according to posture in the water which is a part of the language of these.
Having said that Shetland is the "clincher" for Great Northern Divers.
I can see a couple of 1st year Black Throated from where I am sitting just now.
We actually had a White Billed Diver just down that road from me. It was there for about 9 months and spent much of it`s time close to the shore watching cars drive past. They are a really big diver.
The suggestion of White Billed must have come from a book. When you see these they are nothing like the pics.Even from that distance
Dave  |
29-12-2011, 11:30 AM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 13,607
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
Great-crested Grebes are common in the south throughout the year and they don't look like these birds. |
29-12-2011, 11:55 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: London/ Essex/ Herts border.
Posts: 2,755
| | | Re: Red throated divers?
There is absolutely no way that these are Great Crested (or any other) Grebes - completely the wrong structure.
If they aren't Great Northern Divers I would personally think that Black-throated Divers would be the most likely alternative, as these can sometimes appear to have a similar structure and the photo definition is not good enough to show details. White-billed Diver is a possibility because although most have much paler neck sides they can look similar to Great Northerns (but they are rare enough to make it highly unlikely).
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