Pacific Diver, 24 January 2023, Leven, Fife - first for Fife and mainland Scotland

G. ROBERTSON

This was my first trip of 2023 along the Fife coast to Largo Bay, which is regarded as the best site in the area for a variety of sea ducks, divers and grebes. My initial stop was at Lower Largo (12:00 – 13:00 hrs) which produced a reasonable selection of all three categories of birds, but the emergence of strong sunlight suggested that Leven to the west would offer better viewing.

I arrived at the car park at the east end of Leven promenade at 13:30 hrs. The lighting conditions were excellent and it wasn’t too long before I found a winter-plumaged Blackthroated Diver. Shortly after this, a potential second Black-throated was seen a little further out with a large group of Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Scoters. On closer inspection there was no sign of any white thigh patch on the diver and there appeared to be a dark chin-strap on an otherwise white throat and breast. I studied the bird carefully for the next 10–15 minutes as it swam and dived with the mergansers and scoters but saw no sign of any white thigh patch and the chinstrap was quite clear at an estimated distance of 400–500 metres and a zoom of x30. Pacific Diver was a clear possibility, but with no camera and no other observers present a second opinion was needed urgently.

43:3 (2023)