Residents and seasonal regulars

As I haven’t much time to compose a post today because of heavy study I thought I’d throw up some shots of the everyday birds that are almost unavoidable anywhere in the city. The commonest of birds vary at different times of year but many stay around all year. 

First then are the pigeons; three species can commonly be found in the city, the domestic rock pigeon (picture at top of post), the woodpigeon (below) and the collared dove (bottom).  All three are relatively easy to spot with the domestic pigeons preferring concrete environments and the Peace Park, the woodpigeon present at almost every grassland and tree location and the collared doves wandering randomly from tree to tree.

In summer the air is alive with the chatter of barn swallows (left), these small but extremely fast songbirds can be very entertaining to watch, though a bit of a nightmare to photograph! The closely related house martin and sand martin can also be seen around the Lee canals but is less common. Swifts, another aerodynamic insectivore can also be seen up in the sky but actually isn’t related at all, their wings are more sickle shaped then swallows. 

In winter when the swallows and swifts have migrated away they are replaced by vast flocks of black headed gulls (top) which are joined by common gulls (bottom). Both of these species can be quite approachable and can be lured over by food offerings to within inches especially in places like the Lough and the North Mall canal!

Slightly less common are lesser black backed gulls (below) and herring gulls, these gulls are somewhat shyer then black headed gulls but can none the less often be approached.

See you next time!

Also thank you to http://drimnaghbirdwatch.blogspot.com for adding a link back to my blog, its much apreciated!