Posted by Mike Field on October 26, 2001 at 05:29:40 from 203.26.98.4:
In Reply to: Yes it is a Great Northern posted by Adam Quinan on October 26, 2001 at 00:00:15:
I stand corrected. Adam is quite right. The Common Loon of North America is indeed the Great Northen Diver of the UK.
Here's a quote from Frank Finn's "Birds of the Country Side -- A Handbook of British Birds," a copy of which (dating from 1910) I have in my library --
The DIVERS (colymbidae) are large birds, none less than a Wild Duck; they have three webbed toes in front and a small hind-toe. This distinguishes them from the Auks, which have no hind-toe. They are diving fishers, breeding on the ground at the water's edge, and the downy young swim at once. They are confined to the northern hemisphere.
Two species, the Black-throated (Colymbus arcticus) and Red-throated (C. septentrionalis) Divers, breed in Scotland, and the Great Northern Diver (Colymbus glacialis) visits us in winter.
I'd always thought that the Common Loon was the Black-Throated Diver. I hope a southern hemispherical can be forgiven for getting it wrong,,,,
But wouldn't Dick have been proud to have taken that photo?