23 January 2014

A local walk




I had some free time in the day yesterday so I walked down the local river to the beach.



 Over the last few months my schedule has been so busy I haven't done much local birding on foot, in previous years I used to be able to do this 2 or 3 times a week (of course more free time meant less disposable income).

There was a flock of 40 or so Crossbill. This female was fairly low down.........





They were very flighty due to the presence of hunting Peregrine and Sparrowhawk in the area. It was difficult to keep up with them and they mostly stayed at the tops of the trees. Luckily the trees weren't so high.





I hope they stick around . Five years ago they were in the same location and as the pine cones near the top had all been eaten they moved down to eye level and I got a lot of nice shots in mid to late March.

Also around were 1 Grey Heron and 2 Great Egret which were both also very skittish.







Also around were Dusky Thrush, Hawfinch and a flock of Goosander on the sea.........


8 comments:

  1. All good images Stu, got to love the Male Crossbill image the most, the colour is fantastic.

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    1. I think it is a first year male, it isn't vivid deep red like some of the other males in the flock...........

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  2. The egret in the snow is a great image - white on white can be a nightmare.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment, what with egrets and swans in winter we get a lot of this.............

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  3. Hello from Date,
    How is your birding going? This weekend, I do not go so far, maybe will be watching around my neighbourhood.
    Well, in February, you can not come, it is so unlucky of you that you have to work. Be sure to join next time. In case I want to e-mail to you, how about you give me your phone number and your cellu e-mail address by giving me a message, via my blog メッセージBOX, or message Box. It is all the way down my blog homepage, left side.

    See you.

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  4. Nice shots of the crossbill feeding and great expressive flight shots of the egret with the snow background. I'd rather snow than the dark cold rain that has plagued me this weekend.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Russell, well we've had dark sleety weather the last couple of days up here, very nasty.

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