Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Bramblings at Sowerby Bridge



Peachy Steve is one of our newer members at Halifax Scientific Society. He got these superb shots of a male Brambling in Dodge Royd Wood on 5th Jan. The flock was feeding on Beech mast on towards Triangle.

You can see how the head feathers are black closer to its skin. When the grey tips wear off  the black will be revealed ready for breeding in spring. This is a common way of changing colour among birds. It avoids the heavy investment of moulting and growing a new set. 

3 comments:

AndyC said...

BEAUTIFUL.................

David Sutcliffe said...

Great shots.

David Sutcliffe said...

Thanks for the info on the colour change process Steve. I wasn't aware of that. Something new to learn every day!
Any idea on numbers of Brambling at the Sowerby Bridge site?