Thursday, October 06, 2022

Soil Hill

 Strong winds kept birding generally quiet this morning, but still a few nice bits and surprises.

  • A skein of 61 Pink-footed Geese flew over heading east at 08:39. They were quick in the wind so I only managed a few photos as they powered through. A quick check of the photos showed the front three birds clearly had dark throats contrasting with their white bellies, making them Barnacle Geese. The fact they are migrating with Pinks presumably makes them the real deal, and not part of any local feral population. 

  • A single Swallow was blogging before it headed off northwards.

  • Yesterday two Teal were on the Ned Hill Pond. 

In total managed 41 species this morning, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S120044211

-Barnacle Geese with Pink-footed Geese


I also did a check of Whiteholme Reservoir hoping for Rock Pipit but sadly nothing doing. 16 Golden Plover was just about it.

3 comments:

Peter Smith said...

It's very interesting to see the photo of Barnacles flying with Pinkfeet. I've read that this happens, and that we should look for them in Pinkfeet skeins, but this is the first concrete example I'm aware of. I wonder if the Barnacles always fly at the front?

Bradshaw Rambler said...

Super find Daniel.
They could so easily have been missed.
Great to get a photo.
John

David Sutcliffe said...

Good do there Daniel. Tricky to photo when they are nearly always in silhouette looking up into the sky.