Share your birds

[Mark R]

Let's see them, then...

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2012/ ... ded-house/

[sleepybubble]

Golden Eagle and Bonxie.



Puffin



Razorbill



Cormorant




Mark

[Kate D]

[Kate D]

[andreadawn]

Male and female Eider ducks on Walney Island. These two had paired up but weren’t yet nesting.


Eider ducks in flight, Walney Island.


One of my favourite ducks, the Red-breasted Merganser: two males and a female, Walney Island. They belong to a group of ducks called the sawbills, on account of their long serrated bills, which they use for gripping fish. They are fairly common around the north and west of the UK.


Another lovely duck that can be seen on the sea, particularly estuaries; the Widgeon, River Kent estuary . As usual with ducks, the male is more colourful than the female. They usually occur in large groups. The male has a distinctive “Whee-ooo” call which sounds incredible when a whole flock start calling together.


Shelduck, River Kent; a large duck which also likes estuaries. Hard to mistake this one for anything else.


Still with ducks, this is a male Pintail, River Kent estuary. The long tail is sometimes held above the water or sometimes trails in it.


Usually people think of Mallards or hybrid farmyard ducks when ducks are mentioned. There are over twenty species which occur in the UK though, most of which are just at home on the sea as on freshwater. These are Shovelers on Walney Island, named after their massive shovel shaped bill which they use to sift invertebrates from mud. There are several other species which are almost exclusively marine which I only usually catch distant glimpses of. I love ducks: and before someone else says it, not just to look at; I’m quite partial to the odd Mallard in a casserole too!


Greylag geese over the River Kent estuary: the largest of our geese, and the one from which most domestic geese are descended. Large numbers of wild geese spend the winter in the UK and there are large numbers of feral birds which stay all year round.


A skein of wild geese over the River Duddon estuary. They could be Greylags, Bean or Pink Footed. I can’t tell at this distance.


A poor long distance picture of a Red Throated Diver, Loch Eishort, Skye.


Great Northern Diver in winter plumage, Loch Sween. This one followed me around for ages.




Redshanks roosting at high tide, River Duddon estuary, Cumbria.


High tide wader roost, River Duddon estuary. Oystercatchers, Redshanks and Knots.


Dunlins, Walney island.


Curlew, Walney island.


Oystercatcher sitting on nest; really just a scrape in the shingle, Walney Island.


Sanderlings, River Duddon estuary. When the sun shines on them in their winter plumage they look dazzlingly white. They often race around in large flocks, chasing waves down the beach, grabbing a few morsels, then rushing back again before the next wave comes in.


Lapwing, aka Peewit, Green Plover and no doubt many other local names, Walney Island. Has a lovely call and display flight in spring and when nesting will often fly straight at people at head height in a slightly intimidating way before banking away.


A bird that is becoming increasingly common around UK coasts having spread north from the continent in recent years; the Little Egret. This one is on Walney Island. They seem to particularly like Morecambe Bay and Walney.


White Tailed Eagle, Ardmeanach, Mull.


Nesting Cormorants, St Tudwal’s Islands, Wales. These birds have very prominent white thigh patches and head feathers which distinguishes them from Shags in the breeding season.


Shags in breeding plumage with very distinctive crests, St Tudwal’s Islands, Wales. Shags and Cormorants must be one of God’s little jokes: despite spending most of their time in or under the water they have no, or very poorly developed oil glands, so are not particularly waterproof.


They are very beautiful birds when seen close up though. Shag on nest, Inner Farne.


Manx Shearwaters near Tarskavaig, Skye. I love the way Shearwaters and Fulmars always break off from their course and come and do a few circuits of my boat.


Fulmar, doing what Fulmar’s do best along the cliffs of Handa.


OK, not everyone likes gulls I know, but I do. I think they are stunningly beautiful. This is a Lesser Black Back sitting on its nest on Walney Island. People who don’t like them will be pleased to hear that gull numbers are in decline.


Even people who don’t like the big gulls must surely love Kittiwakes. Every spring I look forward to that wonderful call echoing around the cliffs. This one is on Inner Farne.


Some of them at St Bees in Cumbria have found themselves some very desirable little homes.


Arctic Tern, Inner Farne.


Black Guillemot, another favourite, Treshnish Isles. Lots of these to be seen in Scotland, and a few in England at St Bees.


A few Puffins, Inner Farne, with a few Guillemots behind.


Four Razorbills and a Guillemot off the west coast of Handa. This clearly shows the difference between the two. The Razorbill has a large head with a massive bill with white stripes, whilst the Guillemot is a much more slender bird with a fairly delicate bill.


Guillemots and razorbills showing typical behaviour to a slowly approaching paddler.


A little brown job to finish. This is a Meadow Pipit on salt marsh, Walney island. If you see a very similar bird on a rocky shoreline, typically picking about in the intertidal zone, it will almost certainly be a Rock Pipit. (Almost certainly!).

Andrea Collins

[immunogirl]

I can't say that I know my birds all that well. So most of these will be not labelled.

So... A run of the mill pelican:




Sandpiper:




Great Blue HEron:


Red macaws:












osprey:




Great white herons:






roseate spoonbill:

[Mark R]

Hmm, we don't get many of those around here.

Is this your photo? It's stunning.

[immunogirl]

I have yet to get a really good pic of one of these, but bald eagles. Absolutely stunning, and I've had them swoop down a catch fish near me while paddling (once while showing a cousin visiting from scotland how to do a paddle float reentry), but I'm never fast enough with my camera.

[immunogirl]

Hmm, we don't get many of those around here.

Is this your photo? It's stunning.

Yep. I did a paddle trip down in the Florida Keys after Christmas/New Year's.

I haven't had a chance to go through most of the photos but spent a lot of time taking pics of pelicans while some of the others went off to put the shuttle car at the other end.

https://picasaweb.google.com/ImmunoGirl ... olassesKey

The couple pics of pelicans I put up were using my dslr, but the early pics of pelicans in that picasaweb directory I just linked to were taken with a panasonic zs-7 my brother gave me after he got a better camera for christmas. It did pretty well for a point and shoot, so I'm debating getting it an underwater housing.

[Dave W]

I spent a while surveying birds in Costa Rica, I have tried my best to identify those which you did not label. Hope it is of some help.

A juvenile green heron

Yellow headed caracara

Bare-throated Tiger-heron

Juvenile Bare-throated Tiger-heron (Hard to tell between bare-throated and rufescent).

Juvenile snowy egret

White Ibis

Not sure on these ones, sorry.

Great white herons:

AKA Great Egrets, but as with many species, they have multiple names depending on who you speak to.

Reddish Egret

[maryinoxford]

I think I might know this one... from a David Attenborough programme where he said, "This brown bird is called the Little Green Heron - perhaps because there is so little green on it."

Here's one I found on the internet:


Mary

PS - Dave beat me to it.

[immunogirl]

Thanks for the bird identification - I'll label my pics & hopefully will remember.

I typically call all white birds like that egrets or snowy egrets (really, the average 4 year old knows more birds than me - it's kinda sad given I've got a couple biology degrees, and I do see a lot of birds when I'm out paddling), but we were near Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, so I decided that all white tall birds I photographed near there were Great White Herons. If not, they are egrets, and the other white birds that I didn't post must be great white herons! Although something I copied down there makes me think these must be great egrets & not great white herons 'cause of the color of the legs. Gotta go back into my photos and see if I actually got any great white herons pics. I haven't made it through all my pics, between a the snorkeling & birds, I went a little picture happy :)

http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=41582

I think they are different from egrets from this blurb:
Great white herons are a white color-phase of great blue herons and are only found in the Florida Keys. The refuge was created to protect great white herons from extinction since the population was decimated by the demand for feathered hats. Protection of great white herons was successful, and these magnificent powder-white birds can be observed feeding on tidal-flats around hundreds of backcountry islands each dawn and dusk.

& this:
A large white heron, the Great Egret is found across much of the world, from southern Canada southward to Argentina, and in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. It's the largest egret in the Old World, and thus has garnered the name Great White Egret. In the New World, however, the white form of the Great Blue Heron is larger. In the United States, the Great Egret used to be called the American Egret but that was hardly appropriate, since its range extends beyond the Americas and indeed farther than other herons. & goes on to say: Great White Heron, the white form of the Great Blue Heron, has a heavier bill, and pale, not black, legs.


A few of those photos were from Costa Rica (the collapsed stuff on the banks with the tiger heron), most of the rest were probably the Keys or everglades, and some from up here, around the Chesapeake Bay. I've heard the coots, the tundra swans, and the snow geese are around now, I should actually go see some.

Here's a cardinal

[immunogirl]

Might actually be a great white heron given the color of the legs:

[Dave W]

I'd still say the two photographs in your original post show great egrets due to their ver yellow beaks and black legs, the one in your latest post is more likely to be a 'great white heron', or the white morph of the great blue heron.

I have done a little research into the two of them and it is confusing, the great egret used to be referred to as the great white heron, but it is no longer; presumably due to it now referring to the white morph of the great blue heron?

[Newdaze]

Juvenile Sea Eagle. Rather poor image on the limit of a 200mm Zoom; but I was still pleased to capture the photo.

[immunogirl]

I'd still say the two photographs in your original post show great egrets due to their ver yellow beaks and black legs, the one in your latest post is more likely to be a 'great white heron', or the white morph of the great blue heron.

I have done a little research into the two of them and it is confusing, the great egret used to be referred to as the great white heron, but it is no longer; presumably due to it now referring to the white morph of the great blue heron?

Yeah, the wording was vague on various websites. ONce I looked it up, I decided the 2 in my original post must be egrets. The latter one might be a great white heron, but it could also be some other white bird. But just given that I was in the keys, I'm guessing I must have a pic of a great white heron somewhere.

[Mark R]

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2012/ ... than-life/

[immunogirl]

I wanna paddle with puffins!
*sniffle*

[soundoftheseagull]

[tommfuller]

Cheers,

Tom.

[northwest]

[Mark R]

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2011/ ... -predator/

[Mark R]

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2012/01/21/in-a-flap/

[Stuart Yendle]

Ok not the same quality as the already posted pictures but here's my contribution:

White Tailed Eagle, Portree Isle of Skye

Heron, Soay Isle of Skye

Puffins in flight, Skomer Island, Pembrokshire



Shag, Black Scar, Pembrokeshire

Water Stints? not sure. Enjoying a free ride down the Severn Estuary

[maritin]

Paddling with Puffins?
Paddling with Puffins!

[Mark R]

Mob rule on top of Britain...

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2012/01/24/out-stack/

[ian johnston]

Northern Gannet, Boreray




Gannets near Stac an Armin




Nesting Fulmar, Hirta




Fulmar interaction, Village Bay, Hirta




Great Skua (Bonxie) on a Cleit, Conachair




When Bonxies attack....

[Douglas Wilcox]

Ian>

When Bonxies attack...

Bonxie's eye view of Ian taking the photo above...

Douglas :o)

[immunogirl]

Cherry blossoms over the water in DC;


woodpecker

[Mark R]

One of my favourite photos ever...not making any great claims for the photo, it was just an awesome place and a great paddle...

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2012/ ... bass-rock/



And another (not dissimilar) gannet colony...

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2011/ ... lsa-craig/