I went down to Broadsands this morning for the Pacific Diver. Unfortunately it was a long, long way out in the bay, but at least it had paired up with a Red-throated Diver which allowed structural comparisons to be made. There was very little size difference between the two birds but the Pacific Diver was the stockier of the two and had a pretty distinctive head shape. I attempted the above sketch, much to the amusement of a couple birders nearby, but needless to say there is no plumage detail, save for the complete absence of any white flank patch.
It's almost 20 years ago since I saw my first (and last) Pacific Diver - a winter-plumaged adult bird in Galveston, Texas (April 1998).
I was surprised at how little else was out in the bay but a Black-necked Grebe, or two, was nice to see. It was also great to see Mark and Adele, Dave Land, Brian, Hoppers and Bob.
Yet another brilliant find by Mike but thoroughly deserved given the shear number of hours he puts in checking his local sites on a daily basis. White-winged Scoter next please Mike.
With the numbers of Common Scoter still off Man Sands I've been checking through when I get the chance for Black Scoter Matt... Its about now a young male might just bee getting the bill colouring and shape. Trouble is they are always fairly distant even to check structure!
ReplyDeleteHi Mike - yep that could be a tricky one. Scoters rarely afford even reasonably close views. They're normally very distant for us here in Exmouth. All the best. Matt
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