1 EAGLETON NOTES: Great Northern Diver

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Wednesday 4 May 2011

Great Northern Diver

When I was driving across the Braighe (the isthmus between the peninsula on which I live and the main body of the Isle of Lewis) into town yesterday I was thrilled to see what I was fairly certain was a Great Northern Diver.  Unfortunately I couldn't stop because I had an appointment in town.  On the way back, however, I stopped and took a walk.  There about a 200 metres away out to sea was the very bird.  It is, I think, the first one that I have positively identified and managed to photograph.  Bearing in mind the distance and my modest bridge camera lens (albeit at an equivalent of about 600mm) I was quite satisfied with the resulting photos.




There were also some Cormorants swimming and diving nearby:


7 comments:

  1. The water there is so blue! Our river water is brown. Lovely duck.

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  2. And well you should be satisfied! The birds look lovely but I'm more impressed with the pretty blue of the water - think it might be what I'd call "cold" blue!

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  3. A grand find. A pity it wasn't a little closer........the wee blighters rarely are.

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  4. I'm impressed that you managed to identify it from that distance!

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  5. Absolutely brilliant photos. I remember my first diver sighting in Scotland -- we drove round a corner and there is was just sat in a little lochan (can't now remember which type of diver it was which shows how long ago it was). At the time I only had a fixed lens 35mm film camera so any photos would have been just a dot for a bird, nothing like these which are just fantastic.

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  6. There were some Long Tailed Ducks on there last week too, and the Great Northern Diver was about as well so he's obviously resident at the moment. The GND's are fantastic once their summer plumage is through properly aren't they!

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  7. Thanks all. I wasn't here last week Robyn I was on my way back from NZ. I have seen the Long Tailed Ducks before but not, so far as I can recall, managed to photograph them. I must check that.

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