Pacific Diver

Pacific Diver at Farnham Gravel Pits, North Yorkshire, February 2007

On Monday 29th January news broke of a Pacific Diver at Farnham Gravel Pits in North Yorkshire. This amazing record constitutes the 1st record for Britain and the Western Palearctic!

What was frustrating was that the bird had been present for several weeks, but apparently actively suppressed by members of Harrogate and District Naturalist Society for reasons only known to the suppressors themselves! One of the most frustrating things about this situation was the fact that we had been in the same general area the previous weekend to see the American Robin at Bingley (as had many birders) and we could have saved the planet and our bank accounts some damage had news been released of the diver a few weeks earlier! That aside, at least the news was leaked out and finally access was arranged to allow better views!

However it was still Monday, and I could not get away to see the bird until Friday! Thursday arrived and the bird was still present. It was looking good for Friday! Kath dropped me off at Craig’s house on Friday morning and we were then on our way.

It was tense, we had a brief stop off in Penrith so Craig could sort out some work stuff, we were back on the road by 0915hrs. The tension was mounting, still no news on the bird! We were approaching Harrogate when news finally came through on my pager that the bird was still present….phew! After a battle through road works and diversions in Harrogate and a slight wrong turn en-route we arrived at Farnham Gravel Pits! We paid the ten quid entrance fee and were watching the Pacific Diver by about 1120 hrs!

The diver gave excellent views at time, showing to under 10 metres at closest. The Pacific Diver was surprisingly distinctive, being a small diver (not massively largely than the Great Crested Grebe it was near some of the time). The birds’ bill was fairly small (compared to that of a Black-throated Diver or Great Northern Diver). The diver had brown upper parts with pale edges to the mantle and visible upper wing. The cheeks were dusky and the head-shape relatively rounded. However the most striking features were the lack of pale flank patch and the thin black collar under the chin. The other diagnostic feature that I was lucky enough to see whilst the bird was preening was the black vent-strap!

The bird showed really well, giving reasonable photographic opportunities. We continued watching the bird for just over five hours, before it was time to head south to Norfolk for the weekend!

This bird was surprisingly enjoyable to watch, perhaps the fact that the bird showed so well helped this opinion. It was a truly amazing record as the range of this bird extends from Hudson Bay, west to Alaska and North East Siberia during the breeding season. The species winters south to Japan and along the Pacific coast of North America south to Baja California.