I have attached a digiscoped photo of the distant Pochard along with a particular 'Aythya' which caught my eye and which was feeding away from the Tufteds most of the time but presumably spooked by my appearance decided to join a small group close by.
I managed to get another shot of this bird as it was preening and stretching which shows a very prominent white wing-bar.
I would be interested in any observers comments on the id of this bird. Excluding this bird there was a count of 37 Tufted Duck on the water yesterday (11/11/09). Just for the record my maximum count thus far this winter is 38 on 09/11/09.
Now then some soothing words for Sean and anyone else who has been worrying about the decline of Stonechat in Calderdale this year.
I found a family party of at least 4 of them this morning near Deanhead and earlier in the summer I observed another family party of 5 at another location in the area and another family party of 4 just outside the southern boundary so it would appear they are still doing ok in the south of the area at least.
3 comments:
It is showing a lot of white in the wing for an adult female tufted but I think thats what it is.
Good news on the stonechats,an amazing increase in the last 15 years and then this year a not so good one.?You used to get your name in the report for finding them......
I remember the great secrecy re the first breeders back in the 70s (I think), you'd would have thought we'd got Bluethroat breeding or something!
Agree re Tufted but there is a lot of white!
Could this Aythya be a hybrid between tufted and scaup? cannot see if it has much black on the tip of beak.Both have white on wings.
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