BIRD NEWS:505

I took a lot of woodpecker photos - to make sure I had at least one good one, ending up with far too many that actually did turn out reasonably well or very well. I went around the back of the exhibit and still kept taking them, not knowing....

I do hope I am not boring my readers with multiple woodpecker pictures - perhaps I ought to share some information about the species while I share the last few photos that I took.

One way to tell a greater spotted from lesser spotted is to look at the rump - red is greater, white is lesser. Another way is the plumage - the greater spotted has a white stripe on black wing whereas the lesser spotted has bars of black and white. A third way is the size - the greater is bigger than the lesser. The green woodpecker has a greenish back/wings. you can clearly see this is a greater-spotted by its wing and rump.

The next area I viewed was the waterfall area - where the merganzers live. Next up was supposedly a shot of young merganzers with parents - but they ducked/moved out of shot! I did manage to catch a shot of one parent a little later though.

Ending up with something different - I spotted a pair of ducks. They look like tarted up punks to me, but - alas, when looking for a board to tell me what they actually were, I realized I had already passed it if they had one - so they remain a colorful mystery - unless anyone can tell me the species.

BIRD NEWS:504

I zoomed in on the woodpecker, eager to get a good shot so I could identify which species it was, and it flew behind the trunk - my shot did capture a tit watching though. I tried again...

Well, it was in the picture - just - but still not clear enough to distinguish which of the woodpecker families it was. I thought I had seen a bit of red on the head, but not gotten a good enough shot to tell for sure - yet. I tried again...and again....

Ah there we go, but oh no - another blue tit instead shot followed! Was that enough to make a positive identification? In case not, I took a few more shots...

Ah there we go! This is a specimen of the great spotted woodpecker family!! Of course, I had no idea if my pictures were coming out or not - so I kept on taking them, hopefully...

HERE is an article about wild gardens - and the birds that inhabit them. 

BIRD NEWS:503

Back to the Bewicks - Silver-tag was swimming serenely enjoying the sunshine, dozing away contentedly. Meanwhile, Orange-tag stuck its beak in its back, curled over, and otherwise unmoving swam in circles...

The Canada Geese family were still maintaining ownership of the path ahead of me... with the main parent staring crossly if I so much as took a step or two towards them. I therefore spent a little longer on my second visit to the Bewicks and took THIS video of Orange-tag (and Silver-tag) in its dozing-circling motions.

What was this strange creature, I pondered - it looked like a seagull with a funny head and weird coloring... For a moment I thought it was maybe a black-tailed godwit...but on observing properly it doesn't really look like one - so maybe it was just a color-deformed young gull.

I approached the Trumpeter swan lake - and to my surprise, one of them was doing the same thing as Orange-tag had been - dozing with beak tucked in on the back, whilst circling. I gather it must be a special doze-behavior of swans....but am uncertain if all species do it or just Bewick and Trumpeter. I haven't spotted a mute or black-necked swan do this - yet!

This was supposedly a baby moorhen with mommy - but at the wrong moment they got behind the reeds and you can only see the mother's backside and baby's beak. My final shot for today depicts a bird I spotted fly away as I approached - and here it was back again - a woodpecker!

BIRD NEWS:502

As I continued my way round the WWT Reserve, I encountered a bunch of red-breasted geese. At the next hide, I spotted a wood carving that I don't think I have shared with you before.

I don't think Canada geese can read!! This one might be a bit young to read signs, even if they could. Parent goose was very wary of me....

I was hoping this next photo would show me what the tall bird is - as it looked a bit like a heron, but not the usual coloring - possibly a stork or..... However, even with computer viewing, I cannot see for sure. I didn't take my noccies with me as I was going shopping afterwards, alas...

This pair of geese were lounging about as I moved around the park. The sign shows what they are called - but alas, the information did not come out in this picture.

Back home, and the peanuts are going down fast. I am not sure if the jay still munches, but I have seen several blue tits and great tits at them over the past week. Sparrows continue to eat the mixed seed, and I have noticed a goldfinch visiting the sunflower hearts and nyjer seed again this afternoon after not having spotted any for a while. I haven't seen anyone eat the suet balls for at least a week now though - the last muncher being a blackbird who stood on the ledge and reached up to bite at one.

BIRD NEWS:501

My next trip was another solo excursion to Arundel WWT. Before arriving at the Wetlands reserve, I stopped off at Swanbourne lake for five minutes and dozed along with some feathered friends. It was mostly coots and seagulls on this trip - though there were a few pigeons and ducks and a couple of swans present too.

They mostly chose to doze...in the warming summer air. Although, the pigeons seemed happier to munch.

It wasn't long before I trotted along to the WWT and got in as it opened at 9.30am. My first photographic stop was the Bewick swans!

They seemed to recognize me! I wandered along a bit before returning to see them again later. Finally for this post, a pair of Emporer geese.

BIRD NEWS:500

My penultimate shot from Portsmouth is of a pair of swans - sort of. One swan was real - but the other is a boat! My final shot from our trip shows another seagull sculpture. It appears to have once been a pub or hotel - but is now a real estate agents office.

As this is my 500th post, I thought I would share a few pictures from over the past decade or two to complete it.  Having lived in Australia for 22 years, until around a decade ago, I came across various strange birds that might be unfamiliar to you unless you have been there. 

My first shows a baby black-backed magpie, a common garden visitor in our former residence. When we first moved to Wollongong from Woolooware the magpies were the first birds we interacted with.  they would come to our door, tame, and 'beg' for cheese chunks. Sometimes they got to know us so well they would come inside the back door that we left open, hop thru the porch into the kitchen and stand by the fridge to beg - they knew where that cheese lived!

Of course, it was not long before pigeons found us, multiplied, and became daily guests.

Another couple of regular guests to theyard were myna birds and turtle doves.

Pelicans used to hang out the harbor and use whatever they could find to perch upon - such as lampposts.

To end today's special post - a cockatoo, kookaburra and rainbow lorikeet. there were many other birds I met whilst living in Australia, and I wrote a book about our local population several years ago. You can still purchase it if you are interested in a longer, more detailed, account of my encounters or want to have a complete list of localized species, including the lyre bird, fairy wren, galah, currawong, etc. HERE is the link to view a sample from the book, if you are interested.

BIRD NEWS:499

My next excursion was a Liz & Sande trip to Portsmouth-Southsea-Eastney on the second weekend in June. My camera caught 2-3 model birds as well as real ones on this trip - the first of which was this giant seagull. We then found a cormorant sitting really near to us - with a couple of pigeons on the other side of the water inlet.

We then crept up closer still - it didn't move - just looked at us and let us pass. As Liz said, it was probably the closest we would ever get to a live cormorant in this country! Of course, when it flew across, I had to take the photographs of a pigeon also...

One last snap of the cormorant...

Our original intention when we had set out from home had been to pop along to a garden festival. We were hoping for a roundabout to get a turning off into the other direction - but they had turn offs only on our side, which we missed til we had passed them, so on we went re-planning the day's excursion til our arrival in Portsmouth. From the photography opportunities alone it was perhaps a favorable misfortune and we both enjoyed our day trip anyway.

One last shot of a pair of pigeons completes today's post - but not our trip - I still have 2-3 more snaps to share from Portsmouth.