Tuesday 22 December 2009

More Herring Gulls and some ducks

A rather pale (presumably a northern argentatus type) bird in the snow of Peterhead (19 December). The primaries have clear pale fringes and are distinctly brown, rather than black. I guess these features may be interpreted as suggesting some Glaucous influence, but birds like this are part of a continuum from dark to pale Herrings and confidently drawing a dividing line (at least for me) is difficult. Notably, this bird seems to have renewed one inner greater covert.

A few more typical argenteus type birds are shown here.




I came down to my home town of Sunderland on 21 December. The perfect combination of bright sunshine, snow and a partially frozen lake encouraged me to play around taking some duck pictures.

The same Mallard

Female Pochard

Male Tufted Duck

Male Pochard

Female Pochard

... and another Tufted Duck.

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