Friday 28 March 2014

Goldeneye

Yet again I've left it far too long to update the blog with what's happening, bird wise around Nairn!  So here's just a quick one regarding the three large ducks hanging around the river north of the Merryton Bridge over the past couple of weeks, as well as a little bit on the nearl;y ever present Turnstones.

Note their wonderful bright eyes - hence their name: Goldeneye.  The black and white ones are male  They rest on the bank when the tide is out and every now and then fly out to the firth to feed.

Have you ever walked along the river path near the harbour and wondered what the clicking noise is? Probably the Turnstones busily turning stones looking for food (suitable name!)  

These are incredibly hard birds to photograph - they move their heads so quickly that it is nearly impossible to get a none blurred photo.  Here's what they look like when they are sitting still - and below are some blurred pictures of one with it's prey - as well as one being chased for it's prey!






2 comments:

  1. nice shots you got of them. we saw a woodpecker this morning on one of the bird feeders down at the allotment. not often you see them but we hear them quite a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Billy. There does seem to be more Great Spotted Woodpeckers around lately. I saw a family of three feeding all last summer, and a friend told me last night that they have had two regular visitors in their garden. The RSPB 'Garden Bird Watch' has found that, for the first time ever, GS Woodpeckers are in the top 20 most common birds to visit gardens. Mind you, they are very sensitive and will fly off with the slightest movement of a human, even from behind the kitchen window!

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete