Backward Birding: All The Other Stuff. And That Duck.

08 February, 2017

All The Other Stuff. And That Duck.

Right then, here's that ketchup post thing I promised..

But first, you may be interested in a certain duck?

Yeah, that one

It's a hybrid.

There, relax.

Despite seeming in that shot to be a RND, in the feather it actually looked horribly like a Lesser Scaup, but with too much black on the bill tip and a reddish cast to the purple gloss on its bonce. No idea as to wingbar, but I'd guess that's off, too. On the day I wondered about TuftyxFudge or TuftyxPochard, but having looked into it more, I'm wondering about LesserScaupxRing-necked Duck [or maybe even LScaupx(LScaupxRedhead)!!]..?

Gorgeous little bird, whatever spawned it [and wherever - what if it came from over the pond, genuine vagrant, but 'cos its a hybrid nobody cares? lol]

So, other stuff from last week. [Oh, the terrible delay...]
Monday saw a nice family trip along the Teign. In the rain. There were bacon baguettes, so it was all good. There were also many Dippers. And a certain Little Black Dog.

Spot The Dipper

Pretty pretty

Love that Birch

'orrible...

The day before [which would be Sunday, I think] was one of wind and rain and so on. I toddled down to the Nose and had a look at the sea. I even saw a few birds!

Though not for a while.

After a couple of hours of auks, Gannets, and Kittiwakes but nothing sexier, I was thinking about giving up, but then a GC Grebe flew past! So I stayed on and then an RT Diver did, too. Ho hum, maybe things were picking up? The SWBCM picked up, which was a start;

There were a few gulls about

Ok ok, I'm stopping with the gullses..

..Apart from one that dodged the camera [despite my best attempts] was a nice little 1w Little Gull, which bobbed about cutely between managing to get in and out without me seeing it in the air.. Hm. Definitely seen in the air was another diver, and this one was a cracking Black-throat! The icklest of gulls may be scarcer, but the BTD was definitely bird of the day. :)

Even earlier I went on a little trip to see soaring things, which succeeded, though not with the kind of views The Boss gets, more's the pity.

Itsa Buzzard!

I then went on to another site on the fringe and had a look for Dippers, and even found one!

That white patch

In [slightly better] focus

Fewer birds but better views.

Getting closer to now in time, I took a prowl about the Patch on Saturday last [was it? Yes, I think so..]. Lots of foot-pounding about the streets, and I was delighted to find not only a couple of Treeeeecreeeepers singing at each other - in the garden of someone with far too much money - but some actual House Sparrows! These are surprisingly scarce in much of what is a very urban core of my Patch. I have had exactly two on my property since I moved here, both one visit wonders, and these are the first on the fancy side of The Hill that I've found. So quite happy. :)

Finally catching up.. Sunday saw me out for a yomp on t' Moor! I defied the forecast winds and heavy showers of hail and even thunder [that's what they said!] and went up between Avon and Erme. The wind was indeed stiff to strong, but apart from a little not-even-drizzle early on, no rain and even sunshine eventually ensued! I covered a little over 12 miles on rather wet ground, which wasn't bad, and even found some snow! :D

I also found a mighty 4 Golden Plover and a more impressive 83 Fieldfare [in 3 groups]. Three each of Skylark and Mipit were braving the elements still up there. Right, piccies!;