I have got seriously behind with posting images taken during the past few weeks so here are a few from a brief visit to WWT Barnes on a sunny but windy day towards the end of last month.
Most of the wildlife seemed to be just taking things easy; Cormorants on sentry duty; Tufted Duck floating on still water; Magpie sitting still for once; Mallard asleep plus a mixture of Grey Heron, Wigeon, Teal, Lapwings and Coots just loafing around.
With little aparent action happening I decided to stand and watch this female Tufted Duck and with the camera settings set to capture static motion I wasn't quite ready for her to burst into a flapping frenzy!
I also wasn't quite ready when this Great Crested Grebe decided to stretch its wings!
At least this Common Darter sat still.
And finally a Lesser Black-backed Gull in flight. FAB.
Hi Frank...The Magpie is a very striking bird but I have heard they can be a pesky fellows..are they??
ReplyDeleteThe loafer photo is funny with the heron towering over the others!!
Hope you doing ok!!
They certainly put on a show for you, didn't they: "Dance of the Water Fowl." Great images.
ReplyDelete...a nice array of wildlife! I think you have a nice series on the Grebe and I like the action showing in the wings of the duck.
ReplyDeleteGreat set Frank, For my money you have captured the Tufted spot on and the wings give it a sense of movement and with the rest in focus really bring it to life.
ReplyDeleteNice set of pics.
Great blog, and pictures.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos : )
ReplyDeleteI wish we had more areas w/ wildlife in closer proximity here... of course, we already have the deer in our orchard — we just don't have any water to attract the birds.
Hi Frank,
ReplyDeleteWell you got nice sequences there and beautiful pictures of some of the birds that we are not seeing here anymore... How is the bird life around you? Here it starting to be quite calm although we do have so exceptional migrants from US.
Your magpie sent me to my field guides - it looks almost identical to our western black-billed magpie. I wonder what the differences are?
ReplyDeleteGreat captures, Frank. The fuzzy wings of the Tufted Duck gives a good idea of the motion - I like that.
ReplyDeleteI know only too well how easy it is to get all behind! Lovely shots here. I do like it when they start flapping their wings like that, it always makes a good photo.
ReplyDeleteSuper wonderful collage of photos!!
ReplyDeleteThese are Super!!
ReplyDeleteThey are performing for the camera. Love the ducks, they just have so much personality and are so cute.
ReplyDeleteHi Grammie. Yes, that corvid can certainly be a nuisance. I've been doing a lot of loafing around recently..lol.
ReplyDeleteHi Lois. Dancing on water .. how do they do it with so little effort?
Thanks Kelly. Looking forward to sharing some more action soon.
Cheers Monty. I think it worked out ok in the end.
Thanks Bob.
Hi Sarah. I suppose I'm fortunate to have so many varied locations not too far away. Deer in the orchard ... do they pose a problem?
Hi Chris. Everything is on the move now so starting to see the numbers of wintering species increasing. Unfortunately our interesting migrants are making landfall way too far away for me to get to see.
Hi Chris P. Pica pica verses Pica hudsonia ... from what I can tell they are very similar. I believe it was split by the AOU on the grounds that DNA sequence studies put it closer to your Yellow-billed.
ReplyDeleteHi Hilke. Thanks very much; I'll remember that in future.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan. Getting behind is a sign of age (for me that is)..lol.
Hi Cindy. Thanks.
Hi Kerri. Ta very much.
Hi Joanne. Yes they were. Just a pity they didn't tell me in advance so I could be prepared!
Hi Frank, Nice set of images (as always). After admiring your wonderful collages, I started making some collages of images on our current road trip through parts of Maine. It's such great fun!
ReplyDeleteHi Beatrice. Nice to hear that my blogging has prompted you to use collages ... it certainly helps when you can't decide which images to share.
ReplyDelete