The Pacific Diver.
Two Pacific Divers actually, one having been found recently as a first for the Netherlands, and bringing in the crowds from near and far. This diver breeds in much of Arctic Canada and Alaska.
The Pacific Diver is a bird which is included in my list of twitches which is about as rare as the bird itself.
Pacific Diver Juvenile Farnham G.P. February 2007. Pete Woodruff.
February 2007 was a double whammy day for me 18 years ago, the Pacific Diver was the follow-on of a twitch to see a American Robin in Bingley not many miles away from the Pacific Diver in the Knaresborough area.
Great Northern Diver.
The second diver is a Great Northern Diver, found on 15 December on a lake on the Lancashire/Cumbria border. Being closely related to the Black Throated Diver, this bird was a failed attempt to be seen by me, but many birders/photographers have seen this seemingly healthy example of a 1st winter bird.
But there is something of a mystery surrounding this bird, some images of it from its earlier days at the lake show it to be in pristine condition, but this is not the case in the images to be seen on various sites today.
The bird has a hole on the right side of its neck, and although not visible in this image, also has what appears to be 'string' coming out of both sides at the base its bill in images currently published on Facebook.
I'm not passing any comments on this blog about the unfortunate situation this bird finds itself in, save to say this is surely connected with fishing. Hanging out of the mouth in one image I have seen today, is what I can best describe as a piece of metal.
Delight and disaster on one page!
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