Scarborough harbour always has something of interest for birdwatchers in winter and my trip there today turned up a couple of nice birds. A quick scan of the harbour after parking the car resulted in a nice sighting of a Black-throated Diver in the harbour itself. I got a record shot of it and the identifying features can be seen by comparing it to the pictures below of both Black-throated and Red-throated Divers in winter plumage. Luckily there was also a Red-throated Diver just outside the harbour, coming in very close allowing me to compare the two birds.

I searched through the large numbers of gulls present for something unusual but only found large numbers of Herring Gull, a few Great Black-backed Gulls and a couple of Black-headed Gulls. A few Turnstones were lurking around the harbour too, including one poor individual that had already lost one foot and had a large infection on the other 3-toed foot.

Here is a photo of a rather healthier Turnstone at the harbour.

On closer inspection this bird seems to have a toe missing too. I have noticed from the Turnstones I have seen at close quarters at both Bridlington and Scarborough that most Turnstones have some toes missing. I wonder if this could be a major cause of Turnstone mortality?

birds, birding