Thursday 12 March 2020

More winter birding around my area ... with ducks drawing my attention ...

One of the nice features of winter is the presence of small flocks of Bullfinches which seem to favour certain locations ... a small group of trees and bushes bordering the Hare Beck near to my house is one such place ... these birds were typically flighty when in roadside trees and skulky when in the bushes ...




With the returning American Wigeon again present at Grindon Lough it was a real surprise to be standing there on a March day and feeling the warmth of the sun.  Recent rains have added to the extent of the water body and where the bird was swimming is normally well above the shore line ... it was consorting with a small group of Wigeon and feeding actively ...


Today on the Solway at Port Carlisle the range of birds was a bit limited so I started to look more closely at some Wigeon in the old harbour ... the sun was shining and the foreheads of the males were looking a strikingly golden colour ... except they weren't all - a few had orangey brown foreheads while the rest of their plumage looked identical to the other males ...  the bird on the left has the duller forehead ...



... is this a feature of age, possibly first-winter birds ... or perhaps a retarded transition into breeding plumage ... or is it a variant ... so far the literature has not given me the answer ...

At Glasson Point some Goldeneye were bobbing about in the rough water as the tide began to come in ... some smart although rather distant males ...


... and a first-winter male showing the first traces of the white loral spot which had a strangely Barrow's Goldeneye look and shape about it ...


... and the lack of the third ( median covert ) wing bar confirming its immaturity ...