Red-throated Divers

The Red-throated Diver is the smallest and lightest of the world's diver or loon species. Like all divers, it is long-bodied and short-necked and with its legs set far back on its body. The sexes are similar in appearance although males tend to be slightly larger and heavier than females. In breeding plumage, the adult has a dark grey head and neck with narrow black and white stripes on the back of the neck, a triangular red throat patch, white underparts and a dark grey-brown mantle. The non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin, foreneck and much of the face white, the top of the head and back of the neck grey and considerable white speckling on the dark mantle. The bill is thin, straight and sharp and the bird often holds it at an uptilted angle.

In flight, the Red-throated Diver has a distinctive profile. Its small feet do not project far past the end of its body, its head and neck droop below the horizontal (giving the flying bird a distinctly hunchbacked shape) and its thin wings are angled back. It has a quicker, deeper wing beat than other divers.

The Red-throated Diver has a large global population and a significant global range but some populations are declining. Oil spills, habitat degradation, pollution and fishing nets are among the major threats and natural predators, such as various gull species and both red and Arctic foxes, will take eggs and young.

The Red-throated Diver breeds primarily in the Arctic regions of northern Eurasia and north America and it winters in northern coastal waters, sometimes in groups of considerable size. Unlike other divers, it regularly uses very small freshwater lakes as breeding sites. In Europe, it breeds in Iceland, northern Scotland, Scandinavia and northern Russia and it winters along the coast as far south as parts of Spain.

Date: 7th June 2015

Location: east of Ólafsvík, Snæfellsnes peninsula, west Iceland