I was going to concentrate on just one bird; then I thought, ‘nah!’
So here’s a bit of a mix, taken over the last few weeks.
Some days the sun shone, (not many); and other days it was just plain dull.
If you click on the little picture at the end, it should take you to more posts about birds, from around the world, as part of World Bird Wednesday.
Male Mandarin Duck.
and with his partner, Mrs Mandarin.
Male Eurasian Wigeon.
Blue Tit
Siskin
Grey Wagtail
Great Tit
Female Blackbird
And the last one is a Black-headed Gull
Unfortunately I clipped his wing, but I just liked the way he was strutting his stuff.
65 comments:
The colors of the male mandarin duck are fantastic. Nice mix of pictures,they make me think of spring.
Wonderful series!! I can't over those male mandarins. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
What a bunch of beauties. That Mandarin duck is amazing, isn't he? We had a solitary male Mandarin here a few years back. It was the first and only time we'd ever seen one around here. Photographers came from everywhere. Of course, I only heard about it after the fact. Your photos, as always are wonderful.
I love these, Keith. What a difference between the male and female mandarin duck. I wouldn't have thought they were the same species. The image of the blue tit is spectacular against that yellowish-orange background. What WAS the background in that picture? The strutting gull, even with the clipped wing, is still a wonderful image.
Thanks David. I hope spring isn't too far away; had enough of winter now lol
Thanks Gary. They're very showy aren't they ;)
Thanks Hilary. Those Mandarins are colourful aren't they lol
Fabulous images and WOW do I envy those Mandarins! Such a showy devil!
Thanks Linda. The background to the Blue Tit, is a small hedge of Dogwood,(cornus stolonifera), makes a great background when thrown out of focus.
Thanks Robin. They are show offs aren't they lol
Super mix my friend. I trust you are not overdoing the work thing!
HI Keith..What can I say,you do such a great job behind that camera!!
The Wigeon with that drop of water coming of the tip of his beak, the adorable Blue Tit wonderful photos!!
Hugs my friend
Thanks Frank. Work doesn't agree with me lol
Thank you grammie; very kind of you. :)
Some fabulous images Keith. The head on second shot of the Wigeon and the Siskin are particularly good. You dont get a Siskin to pose like that normally.
Thanks Roy. The Siskin was taken at my local, and stopped in the bushes briefly. I managed about 6 shots, and then it left. A great bit of luck.
Wonderful photos, Keith. The male Mandarin looks like a painted sculpture in an art show, but I particularly like the grey wagtail, not sure why.
Mandarins are beautiful birds to see and Keith your images are stunning. As usual some brilliant images of our lovely birds.
Thank you Hilke. The Grey Wagtail is a lovely little bird. Glad you like him.
The Mandarin is such a colorful bird but I especially like the Blue Tit.
They are all gorgeous Keith! I still can't quite believe the male Mandarin is real, I think I have said before that it always looks like it has been made out of pieces of felt to me. I still haven't seen one round here.
Thank you Andrew, glad you enjoyed them. :)
Thank you Mick. Had some rare sunlight for the Blue Tit picture :)
Jan, I think the Mandarin has to be one of the most colourful birds around.
Yeah! If you got 'em show 'em! You can always go out and take more. Everyone of them is stand alone excellent. Seems like your having a pretty good run in spite of the weather and computer upsets! ;-)WBW
Hi holdingmoments (aka Keith, I think?!), have followed you from Roy`s blog (The Fenland Walker) and am glad that I did! These photo`s are quite beautiful, particularly like the Blue Tit.
As someone who was born and `dragged` up in Bucks ( a village called Great Horwood, near Milton Keynes) I feel an affinity here somehow! I will return, that`s if you will have me!
J
Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES
Brilliant collection Keith. I wish we had a few of those Mandarins down our way.
The first shot of the Mandarin is a real cracker Keith.
Treble wow, you made the last weeks or so, a very very beautiful birds.
Great choices, the Grey Wagtail sitting on the aged boards caught my eye.
Oh definitively the two first one for me Keith!!! Wow these mandarin pictures are so beautiful!!! I'd love to see it in the wild ;-)
I like all of them, but Blue Tit is my very favourite - I simply adore them!
Keith great series mate.
I havent got a Grey Waggy on my year list yet... I shall keep trying. I like the BH Gull shot the best, even with a clipped wing.... lovely pose and lighting
They are all beautiful birds and photos. But my favorite is of the male Mandarin. He is a beauty!
Excellent
work
thank you for sharing
Oh, what lovely pictures! Colorful birds are such a delight to see.
Thanks Springman. I try to get out every day if I can, but I don’t always manage to get pictures.
Thanks for stopping by and following John, appreciate it. Hope you’re not disappointed :)
I’ll have a look at your blog later; I have to go to work very soon.
Thanks Trevor. The Mandarins are stunning birds.
Thanks John :)
Thank you Bob. Be good to have some sun soon though, won’t it ;)
Thanks Dale. Their yellow undersides shine on a dull day. Beautiful little birds.
Thanks Chris. Glad you enjoyed those Mandarins.
Joo, thank you. Great little characters, aren’t they.
Thanks Dave. I’m lucky to have one or two Grey Wagtails regularly at my local lake.
Eileen, thank you. He is a popular bird, with his outrageously coloured plumage.
Skizo, thank you :)
Thank you Linda. They can brighten the dullest of days :)
Beautiful photos- love the variety!
Great set Keith. The Grey Wagtail gets my vote cloely followed by the..........na, they`re all super mate, well done :)
The male Mandarin Duck is a fantastic creature and your photo is a masterpiece with a splendid quality! Have a great day, ciao! :)
p.s. My WBW entry is at http://dogadansevgiyle.blogspot.com, my new nature blog.
Thanks Mike, glad you enjoyed them.
Cheers Trevor :)
Müge, thank you for your kind comments.
I'll check out your blog soon :)
Wonderful group of lovely photos! Good news about the forest sell-off!
Thanks Pat.
Seems our government listened. We still need to watch them though.
Great collection Keith. Glad to see you had at least a bit of sun on occasion.
...that Mandarin Duck is so exotic. I couldn't imagine seeing one in the wild! Just gorgeous. I love all the photos, but I especially love the background of the Grey Wagtail...his warm orange belly against the weathered wood is spectacular!!!! Also...the clipped wing on the last photo adds to the interest. I don't know why, but it does! I think it frames it up better...
That is quite a variety! And each one so lovely! Very nice shots! I particularly enjoy the ducks, all I've seen are mallards.
Excellent series! Impressive shots. That first mandarin is perfect! Also love the composition on the Blue Tit. Very cool photos!
KEITH...that Mandarin is OUTStanding--as are all your PHotos!!
Thanks Adam. The sun was a pleasant change. Need some more lol
Thanks Kelly. Glad you enjoyed them :)
Thank you Pam. I'm lucky to have a good variety of ducks about at the moment.
Jill, thank you. Appreciate your comments.
Sondra, thank you :)
wow! All shots are lovely. The Mandarin is gorgeous. In days of old the men dressed that way too. LOL
MB
The mandarin ducks are real beauties! The colours and their figure are very elegant. Super pics! I wish you a happy sunny weekend and send hugs from Luzia.
The male Mandarin is one striking ducky. The Great Tit has to be a cousin of our Chickadees. I enjoyed all your fine images!
The male Mandarin is awseome! Great serie of images!
The male Mandarin duck looks so unreal it could be a trepan. I could hardly believe my eyes at it's superb plumage.
A lovely post with so many well captured birds. I have a particular love to both the blue and coal-tit and was excited to see both here.
Small City Scenes, thank you. They certainly did; and it was called style lol
Thank you Lucy. They are beautiful ducks.
Jean, I’m sure you’re right about your Chickadees. They must be in the same family as our Tits.
Thank you Dominic :)
Thank you Arija, I’m glad you enjoyed them. :)
I would really like to meet with Mr and Mrs Mandarin. Maybe you could introduuce me? (smiling) The Grey wagtail don´t come this way either. Beautiful shots!
That was a beautiful birding experience -- thank you for sharing. Your photos are incredible! (I can't decide whether I better enjoy your wonderful shots of birds I know or the ones I don't.)
I was glad to see the comment at the top about the forest selloff (or rather no selloff)....but you are right, best to remain alert and not take anything for granted these days (over on this side ofthe pond as well, as I'm sure you know).
Beautiful shots! I really love the mandarins, especially the pair together, and that blue tit (great background color!). Great posting!
Nature Footstep, thank you. I'd love to introduce you; lovely couple aren't they :)
Thank you Sallie. Glad you enjoyed them.
A good result for the people, regarding the forest sell off;but yea, we have to keep an eye on the crafty so and so's.
Thank you Pat. Appreciate your comments.
What a great selection! I'm stil WOWing at the Mandarin Duck shot.
By the way, so true about politicians!...
Thanks for all, especially the Gray Wagtail!!
The mandrian duck is so colorful he almost looks unreal.Beautiful pictures as always.Love the last guy marching about!phylliso
Gorgeous photos all Keith! The gull is my favorite, I love that pose too. And the Mandarin is always a show stopper. I hope to see one in person some day.
I was glad to hear of the decision of the government not to sell off the forest land.
Absolutely beautiful shots........I feel I've so far to go but I love this set....in a green (with envy) way.
PS Keith you credit the government with sense. An Oxymoron. Fear is what they have....seen Egypt, Tunisia and their buddies in Libya.
Feel free to delete this but please don't ban me.
Thanks JM. The Mandarin male is a real beauty isn’t he.
Thank you Harold :)
Thanks Phyllis. The gull is really strutting his stuff lol
Larry, thank you. Yea, good news about the forest sell off.
Thanks Adrian. Fear is probably right. I think sometimes this country is too refined in its protests though.
Or maybe I shouldn’t say that ;)
I was sure I commented on this post yesterday, but I must have become distracted. Such a wonderful array of species, esp. all the tits. I just read that our chickadee, which looks so much like one of your tits, is in the tit family. My daughter brought home a random book from the college library for me the other day all about wood ducks and mandarin ducks. Oh, my goodness, those mandarins are not only beautiful to behold, but are have very incredible manners/habits. It's an interesting read. Your photos are every bit as beautiful as in this book. ~karen
What a beautiful selection of bird photographs.
My neighbour keeps mandarin ducks on her very large pond.....two escaped last year.
Love the grey wagtail....
I think all of us who love to roam were more than pleased when the government did a U turn with regard to the selling of our forests.
Like you and many others, I do not trust any of them.......
WONDERFUL colours. You must live in an incredible place. You have photos of so many different birds. Great photos.
Thanks Karen. The Mandarin and Wood Ducks, must be two of the most colourful ducks around. Beautiful birds.
Thanks Cheryl. Yea, good news about the forest u-turn. I reckon they'll try again later though.
Thank you Joanna. There is a good variety of birds close by. I'm very fortunate.
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