Northern Irish NGB member James O'Neill recently had the fantastic opportunity to see NI's FIRST Pacific Diver Gavia pacifica at Lough Fea (as in petrel):
We (my mother dearest and I) arrived at the south shore of little Lough Fea in a squally showery spell. The Lough, several miles the west of north Lough Neagh, is a small body of in the middle of desolate moorland fringing the Sperrin hills (don't get excited, hen harriers have become very uncommon in that part of the world - but what's new?). I scanned the lough with the scope, and saw that a few birders had congregated on the north shore but didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular. Scanning further revealed my first view of the bird, diving on the wooded west shore out of sight of the birders.
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| Pacific Diver - Lough Fea, NI ©James O'Neill |
I excitedly made my way around to the side where I had seen it, and after a bit of tramping through the bog and wet wood with no wellies, I was able to creep up on the diver, where it was 4 metres away from me at the best point, and swallowing small fish.
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| Pacific Diver - Lough Fea, NI ©James O'Neill |
Unfortunately, a gaggle of twitchers appeared behind me and their noise and commotion flushed the surprisingly tolerant bird to the other side of the lake. The group rushed to meet it and had substandard views before flushing it straight back to me! They got bored, and having taken their record shots and ticked it off, departed.
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| Pacific Diver - Lough Fea, NI ©James O'Neill |
However, I was able to spend some time, being patient and using tactics to get close to the bird, rather than squawking and rushing around after it. It certainly paid off. After a time, the diver was very comfortable getting in very close to me and I was able to get the photos I wanted. Mum wasn't so happy however; she had been under impression that we would be seeing it for 5 minutes, not 4 hours!
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| Pacific Diver - Lough Fea, NI ©James O'Neill |
Several times the bird took off and flew laps around the lake, passing very low over my head. It displayed all kinds of behaviour - preening, feeding, resting, flying, stretching. I even heard it wail. It was very special to have experienced such a close encounter with this bird, especially since it is my first diver species for the British Isles!
-James O'Neill
Hailing from Norn Iron (that's Northern Ireland to you), James, 18, is interested in most branches of nature, especially fish, invertebrates and birds. A wildlife artist and, more recently, photographer, he likes nothing more than to spend a sunny day out at his patch, Lough Neagh, with his scope and camera. He enjoys travelling and aims to visit every region of the world to suss out its plethora of wildlife.
https://twitter.com/Jamesoneillii
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| Pacific Diver - Lough Fea, NI ©James O'Neill |
-James O'Neill
Hailing from Norn Iron (that's Northern Ireland to you), James, 18, is interested in most branches of nature, especially fish, invertebrates and birds. A wildlife artist and, more recently, photographer, he likes nothing more than to spend a sunny day out at his patch, Lough Neagh, with his scope and camera. He enjoys travelling and aims to visit every region of the world to suss out its plethora of wildlife.
https://twitter.com/Jamesoneillii
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