Re: Black-throated/Great Northern Diver - help for a total novice please...

On 30 Aug 2005 08:40:10 -0700, "dinnes2112" <dinnes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Hopefully someone can help me. I'm not in any way a knowledgable
>birdwatcher, rather a hillwalker who by being in some remote places
>(northern scotland) often enough, sometimes sees some interesting (to
>me!) birds.
snip
> we spotted a large,
>black(ish) bird with a white underside, long and fairly pointed wings
>and a large beak trying repeatedly to escape the vicinity but
>constantly being thrown back by the incredibly strong winds that were
>battering the area over the weekend. In sympathy, we watched it for
>some time and neither of us had seen anything similar in the hills
>before. It looked like a duck of some description to my unpracticed eye
>and when I checked in my pocket spotters guide later, the only two
>possibilites that it seemed to offer weren't ducks, but rather the
>Black Throated and Great Northern Diver. Are either of these remotely
>possible and is there a far likelier species that I'm missing? If it
>were to be one of these, are they common in NW Scotland in late
>August?
>
>Hopefully my cack-handed description won't get me flamed too badly :)
Following up Malcolm's comments - if you want a rather amusing picture
on how likely Great Northern might be, read Arthur Ransome's Great
Northern (to your kids). Actually, it perhaps overstates the chances
of them breeding.

Incidentally, the egg collectors mentioned are very real, and
detailing likely breeding locations of really rare birds in open forum
is considered very unwise. I guess you didn't realize ...

Mike.
.

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