COME ON TO SEE SOME PICTURES OF THE 

RED-THROATED DIVERS
DURING THEIR BREATHING SEASON IN SCANDINAVIA

MAY TO AUGUST 2020

Red-throated diver (Gavia stellata)

The red throated diver are the smallest of the world’s four species of divers, are a sea bund bird and they becomes mature after its second or third year. They are easily recognized in flight by its long neck, which is kept outstretched and slightly arched downwards. They are monogamous and stay together for a long time. 

Mating takes place on land, and they build their nest close to a small lake, pond or lagoon, like the one above, and adjacent to fish-rich lakes or near the sea. The couple builds the nest together, which is a shallow burrow in the ground usually not more than half a meter from the water, and are lined with plant parts and sometimes with a few feathers.

The female usually lays two eggs, sometime one or three, and these are incubated for 24–29 days, mainly by the female. Incubation begins as soon as the first egg is laid, which will results in the eggs hatching at different times. The young are more burly when they hatch and have open eyes and can move more or less directly.

The young are then fed for about 38-48 days. If there is a shortage of food, the young fight intensely, and often only one young survives. Even after they are ready to fly, the parents can continue to feed them. In case of danger, the brooding parent tries in various ways to lure the possible predator away from the eggs or chicks. Sometimes it plays dead with an outstretched neck and then quickly shoots itself into the water, dives and then comes to the surface far away from the nest.

The red throated diver mostly spend their winters in the open sea where they easily can find their food of fish and other sea animals.

These pics are shoot over a six weeks period from mid June to the end of July in Sweden. 

These pictures are shot before and after the eggs was hatched in the end of June, this to see the chicks growing…