BIRD NEWS: 908

 

Along with spectacled eider and avocet were a few other birds.

Although they had a sign up, the merganzers were absent.

There were scoter and mandarin and redshank though.

I took some close ups of the scoters.

Alas, the male duck ducked out of view as I attemptd to capture the living specimen alongside the id board..

It did pop back for one shot though.

HERE is a link to some rare woodland birds....I spotted the last one at RSPB Pulborough Brooks once.

Lets end with another pigeon on roof shot from my front door looking across the road.

BIRD NEWS: 907

 

Let us start with Naboo - I only have a half dozen or so photos of him left to share.

OOH, what is this bird-shaped shadow on the bedroom curtain? Ah yes of course - It is PIDGE! waiting for me to pop food on the windowsill!

Our next excursion upon which there were birds was to WWT Arundel, after hiking the woodland route.

After lunch, we encountered the pelicans.

We walked around the outside of their enclosure observing them.

There were avocets numbering 6 in the aviary.

Alongside them were spectacled eider.

BIRD NEWS: 906

 

My first shot today is the last picture I took of birds at Petworth Park. It is of the Egyptian geese. Here is Naboo for an interlude.

Our next excursion that had birds on it was to Brighton. We walked along the coast to the Marina, around it, then back.

Although I did not manage to capture the cormorant we spotted, I did catch the bench of 'pigeons'!

There were 3-4 benches decorated this way - and of course the pigeons grabbed my eye - but then I spotted seagull and...

starling murmuration, and...

was quite impressed.

Let us end with Naboo...

BIRD NEWS: 905

 

Another shot of the egret ar West Witterings begins today's post. There were also some mute swans.

I took two shots of them.

I took pictures of some info boards. I find it difficult to absorb information when relaxing on a trip - much easier when I am home again to catch up on knowledge.

I tried to fit the entire set of boards in...

We saw several of these - curlew, redshank, etc.

There was a crow up in the treetops.

That was the end of that trip - the next one was to Petworth Park. There were Canada Geese on the lake.

HERE is some info about the variety of thrush family birds we get in winter.

BIRD NEWS: 904

 

My final photo from the Ardingly horse trials and show is of wagtails in the car park. There were around 6-7 of them flitting about.

Our next trip weas to Itchenor, from where we walked the coast to West Witterings for a beach picnic then returned. Along the way we spotted a little egret...

Actually, we spotted at least a dozen in our entire trip - but being the first, I took a couple of shots, thinking that we might not encounter much birdlife later on.

The above info board shows the egret - along with some of the other birdlife in the district.

And there is another little egret...

Then we spotted a curlew! We were not positive in our sighting til we heard it call, as neither of us had our noccies with us to see it close up.

Oh look - another egret.....

BIRD NEWS: 903

 

Recently a wood pigeon who has been injured has been coming to my sill - along with 4 other wood pigeons, including the one with the damaged beak which is now regrowing.

The newly injured one had a huge 'patch' on its abdomen which looked liked it had been jabbed/ripped by a sparrowhawk or cat. I am happy to say that now, 2-3 weeks later, it seems to have healed.

Our next excursion was to the Autumn show and horse trials at Ardingly, in September. As well as enjoying the horse jumping, dressage, and pony games, we saw some birds. There was a falconry display from Kent, for example.

I searched the poultry exhibit for pigeons...and found ducks and geese.

This second batch looked like a breed I had seen before in Arundel.

There were also some chooks - with feathery/hairy crests, bodies, etc.

I couldnt get good photos as people decided to stand in front of my camera.