Category Archives: Birds

Chiffchaff (mainly)

March 24, 2015 by Words | 2 Comments

There a couple of other creatures featured today, but the main bird of the day is this pretty little chiffchaff… if indeed it is a chiffchaff. It could easily be a willow warbler. It would have been easier to i.d. if it had been singing, but it wasn’t so I’m relying on the fact that it has dark legs. Either way, they are very cute little birds and this one was playing hard to get by flitting between several trees and usually perching just behind a hefty branch.

Chiffchaff (or possibly willow warbler)

Chiffchaff (or possibly willow warbler)

Chiffchaff (or possibly willow warbler)

I keep promising ducks, and if I don’t post some now these will get lost on the hard drive. First up is a female mallard, perched on the stone wall that runs along the churchyard at Falmer. As you can see, it was raining slightly (and obviously a touch overcast).

Female mallard duck on stone wall

Here’s a male, landing on the pond. This one was taken in the middle of the day.

duck landing on pond

Last shot is from the morning again… another local rat, looking pretty in the undergrowth.

Rats

No badgers tonight. I’ve spent some time outside, but it was quiet (and cold). Maybe more soon. We’ll see.

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

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Unusual Goose Doubled

March 19, 2015 by Words | 4 Comments

My attempt at featuring what is now quite a hefty backlog of duck photos is on hold again. You may recall that a week ago I posted about an unusual goose at Falmer Pond, and speculated on whether it was a hybrid of a Canada and Greylag goose. I’m no closer to answering that question, but now have a pair them to wonder about.

Pair of unknown geese at Falmer

The two geese were gliding across the pond when I arrived, early morning.

Geese (unknown)

Yellow legs and a broad white face patch are the main distinguishing marks. Canada geese have black legs.

Geese swimming

They are very much a pair.

Goose hissing

They also hiss a lot!

Geese hissing

Geese kissing

Or is it ‘kiss a lot’?

Goose close-up hissing

That’s one heck of a tongue!

If you do know what species of goose these are please let me know, here or via the Permuted Twitter feed.

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

Also posted in water birds Tagged , |

Fighting Ducks

March 18, 2015 by Words | 2 Comments

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time photographing the Falmer Pond ducks recently, though most of the shots haven’t yet made their way on to this site. I’m going to try to make amends this week, starting with this sequence of the mallards taken this morning.

The ducks are frisky at the moment, and fights between males frequently break out crating a mass of spray and feather.

fighting ducks

fighting ducks

fighting ducks

fighting ducks

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

Also posted in water birds, Wildlife Tagged |