The Lough, Diving ducks (InDucktion)

In recent days I have been returning to the Lough in Cork city more and more. I had hoped to take a look at some of the common species living there and with any luck get some good light shots. The results varied. On several occasions ring bills and icelands showed up in the distance but for the most part the ducks supplied the greatest interest.

In particular I have a fondness for pochards and indeed other members of the Aythya ducks which unlike mallards and shovelers actively dive below the surface for food.

A number of weeks (months) ago a number of pochard showed up at the Lough. I didn’t count them but the number at a guess was about 25. With them I managed to judge that one of these ducks looked out of place. Indeed I soon learned that this was in fact a male ring necked duck. Unfortunately since it was practically dark at the time and the duck was very much asleep out on the water I gave up and decided to come back the next day. It had apparently moved on when I did return but at least I got to see it!

The ring necked duck is a rare American species not unlike a tufted duck in appearance but with a different head shape and without the distinctive tuft.

Pochard
My girlfriend maintains that pochards are not as nice looking as tufted ducks; she says that their colours clash with each other! I have to say personally I would count the pochard as one of the nicest looking ducks seen on the Lough. Usually it is quite unusual to see a pochard here. They do come and go but very rarely do they stay for more then a few days. This winter I was delighted to see not only the already mentioned flock of them but also a single individual who remained to take advantage of the food offerings of excitable children and their families. To my knowledge he is still there (or at least was last week).

In contrast to the vivid males female pochards are quite brown looking. Still I do find personally that female diving ducks look nicer then dabbling ducks. Why I am of this opinion is hard to say, perhaps it is the detailing around the eyes and the shape of the head that set it apart from the plain camouflage plumage of say a female mallard.

Tufted duck
Tufted ducks are amongst the most common species of duck in Cork city. The Lough has dozens of them constantly active around the edges of the water, this makes a nice change from some of the other species such as shovelers which seem to prefer staying near the central island. It can be quite hard to see that it is closely related to the pochard. I guess the clue is in the very similar looking bill. I have had limited success getting a shot I like of these ducks, a phenomenon made all the more frustrating by the fact that they willingly come over. I just never seem to get the settings on my camera quite right for a bird this dark. Ah well. I’m going to let you guess which one the female is!

By the way for the sake of convenience I have customized my flickr photo gadget on the right to have a dropdown list of species so as to have easier access to each species. It currently only has ducks but when I get the time I will put in all the species I have so far photographed. Just click on any of the thumbnails to get a bigger version on a new page.

Flight of the rings

As its the month of ring billed gulls I will now write yet another post about them. Perhaps I have some sort of ring billed gull stalker problem because these guys seem to show up just about anywhere. There is the Atlantic pond ring bill (Dell), the Gate cinema ring bill and the bird below is a ring bill I found across from the bus station. It is of course entirely possible that the later bird is the same individual scouting up and down the river but no matter.

As is the habit of ring bills, this one only stuck around for a few minutes, preferring to pursue the flocks of screaming black heads rather then show up for food directly (turns out gulls really like bits of leftover plaice, who knew!). Got some half decent flight shots.

Also some more shots of the Atlantic pond ring bill. Probably the same individual as before though its hard to say.

In other news I spotted my old friends the peregrines again, first I saw one sitting on a radio antennae (or something of the kind) by city hall and then a few minutes later I saw it first capturing a pigeon in mid air and then dragging it down with great effort to a nearby rooftop all the while being chased by both the other peregrine and a group of screaming gulls. Next the still alive pigeon continued to struggle for a couple of minutes with one of the peregrine’ s talons holding its wing firmly. The kill soon followed and the other peregrine started screaming at it for a portion. The pictures below, while hardly of super quality do quite nicely tell the story. Got to love bird theatre!

Iceland gulls coming to a theatre near you!

Lately 3 Iceland gulls have been visiting the Gate cinema area of Cork city. Which just so happens to be a stone’s throw from my house. The weather and lighting hasn’t generally been great but I nevertheless managed some acceptable shots. 2 of the Icelands seem to have since moved on but one, the large adult has remained in more or less the same area for over a week now.

The non adult dropped in only briefly and quickly returned to his rooftop perch, no matter, the other two where willing to stick around.

Iceland number 2, now also absent seemed to prefer staying on the water with the black headed gulls rather then perching overhead on the street lights.

Number 3, still seems to be frequenting the area, seemingly he prefers staying overhead on the overhead lights but occasionally he comes down and swoops out over the river when one of the regular bread feeders come along. Since it only gives about a 30 second window before returning to its perch it is actually quite hard to capture with the camera.

A surprise adult ring billed gull showed up for a few minutes. I had never seen one this far from the docks before. It’s not the same bird I found at the Atlantic pond since this one had bright yellow legs instead of greenish.