Thursday 20 January 2011

Senior Executive Officers (SEOs)

Short-eared Owls Combat
ditto
Breaking away
Heading Towards each other
A darkly-plumaged bird
Coming down to land

Underparts shot
In flight
Underwing markings
At rest
Bullfinch
The highlight of the grey, chilly morning was a Common Buzzard relentlessly mobbing a Rough-legged Buzzard. In the afternoon the Common had taken up residence with no sign of the Rough-legged. The morning group went on to Waters' Edge to see 4 male Bullfinches feeling on dropped Alder seeds. We also had flyover Redpolls & Siskins, with very little on the unfrozen lakes, so a Goldeneye was an aquatic highlight. There were plenty of Stock Doves a single Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Cormorant and a Marsh Harrier passed overhead. The afternoon session, after the disappointment of the Buzzard, went on to see at least 6 Short-eared Owls barking, and clashing in mid-air; whilst others performed their tumbling courtship flights. A wing of a Barn Owl picked clean after it probably starved in the recent cold weather was a sad sight. Note: do not send an email out explaining you may see SEOs, as some 'students' may wonder why they are going to meet deskbound executives!

No comments: