A Pheasant Walk

By Words | Published March 12, 2011

These are some photos from Friday that got sidelined in favour of yesterday's newts and frogspawn sequence. I was out early morning in one of my regular haunts where the chances of seeing something interesting are generally good. There are small birds such as this wren…

And there are striking birds such as this vibrant yellowhammer…

There are also corvids. Yesterday it was the crows that were dominant.

The highlight though was a pair of pheasants out enjoying the morning sunshine. They strolled around the filed like a couple of old friends, wandering between the sleepy horses and eventually ambling (do pheasants amble? Well these ones do) over the brow of hill and out of sight.

Just one more item tonight, a short video caught a couple of nights ago. It shows some common behavioural traits, first by a fox and then a badger. It's an edit, but the two clips were taken only a few minutes apart.

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

This entry was posted in Badger, Birds, Foxes and tagged , , , , , .

10 Comments

  1. Mickeyjoe-Irl March 12, 2011 at 11:03 pm #

    The badger is definitely NOT impressed. 😆 But who would be, if a fox did that to their dinner?

    Pheasants are such beautiful birds, if rather daft in my experience.

  2. cakkleberrylane March 13, 2011 at 4:03 pm #

    Wonderful photos. The video is brilliant! What a trrible thing to do to that poor badger's food!

  3. Words March 14, 2011 at 11:03 pm #

    Mick, the odd thing with foxes is that they often mark places where there isn't any food (ie checked, but empty). Whatever the purpose, it did the trick.

    I'm always surprised at the size of pheasants, and I agree that they don't have the most intelligent faces.

  4. Words March 14, 2011 at 11:03 pm #

    Lois, thanks! That was one of the odder moments I've caught on the trail cam. 🙂

  5. Mickeyjoe-Irl March 14, 2011 at 11:03 pm #

    :doh: I didn't man they looked daft, I meant they acted daft. Absolutely no sense on the road, I've lost count of the ones I've almost hit.

  6. Words March 14, 2011 at 11:03 pm #

    Thanks Erwin!

  7. Words March 15, 2011 at 12:03 am #

    Look daft and act daft in my book! Still love 'em though. 🙂

  8. SittingFox March 16, 2011 at 8:03 am #

    Originally posted by Words:

    the odd thing with foxes is that they often mark places where there isn't any food

    According to that scientist who studied them in northern Sask, that is quite intentional! They seem to mark empty caches, presumably to save themselves the hassle of looking there again. As for badgers – no idea! :right:

  9. Words March 16, 2011 at 6:03 pm #

    Adele, I'm not sure about badgers either, but I know a fox got the peanuts a little later on so it worked for someone. 🙂

  10. Wulpen October 19, 2012 at 8:10 pm #

    Great shots………….. :up: