Today is Sunday, and so we have bird photos from biologist John Avise, this time from Northern Ireland. John’s narrative and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. Note the five DUCKS at the beginning.
Birds in Northern Ireland
In 2008, I visited Northern Ireland and Ireland to give invited seminars at major Universities in both countries. My hosts knew of my great interest in birds, and so they very graciously took me on an extended tour of nature reserves and natural habitats across the entire island. This week’s post shows some of the birds I photographed in the Northern Ireland portion of that journey. The weather was mostly cloudy and rainy; ergo the darkness of some of the pictures. Many of these birds will be familiar to European readers of WEIT.
Dabchick (also known as “little grebe”; Tachybaptus ruficollis):
Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca), drake:
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina), drake:
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula), drake:
Gadwall (Mareca strepera), drake:
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) adult in basic (non-breeding) plumage:
European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus):
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) flight silhouette:
Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina):
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) head portrait:
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula):
Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), dorsal view:
Northern Fulmar, ventral view:
Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus):
Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis):
Western Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula:
Wonderful pictures of the birds of Ireland. I particularly liked the Swan head portrait, such a regal bird. The Robin reminded me of gardening in the UK where the Robin was a constant friendly visitor . Good memories, thank you.
I especially liked those two birds as well. Thanks for the great photos.
Living on a narrowboat on the Southern Oxford Canal in the early 1970s I had a pair of swans nest nearby who were constant visitors and who would gently tap the side of the boat next to the cabin at the stern to advise that they were ready for food. The cygnets (six) when reared would come as well and leaving the mooring was quite a wrench after such time and close contact with these magnificent birds. I will never forget them.
“Northern Ireland”
Wonderful – this will serve as a sort of travelogue as well – and like RWP does generally – really wonderful.
Thanks John. I love the tufted duck. And thanks to your hosts in making it more than just a business trip. I think that the thing I valued most about my foreign business travel was the relationships and interests developed with my non-U.S. colleagues.
Ferruginous duck is a nice record from N. Ireland.
Great pictures as always. The lighting in the Dabchick picture is very flattering. It highlights the subtle coloring and makes it look like the entire bird is glowing!
What a lovely array of photos. I just love all the different beak shapes.
Thanks!
I especially like the robin picture. Great capture.
Great pictures, as always!
I couldn’t help wondering why the adorable Common Linnet has the same genus name (Linaria) as the Toadflaxes, a group of plants in the snapdragon family. It turns out that Latin name refers to linen, and the Linnet was sometimes called the linen-weaver bird, while Toadflaxes have leaves resembling the leaves of true flax (from which linen is made). A little ornitho-etymology, anyone??
Susan, How in the world did you come to recognize this unexpected link between the genus names of a bird and a plant? So now I guess we still need to know why the Common Linnet was sometimes called the linen-weaver bird!
Hi John! That’s just what happens if you are both an aspiring plant nerd and wannabe bird nerd 🙂 🙂 🙂 I remembered Linaria-the-plant only because Bastard Toadflax is my favorite plant common name. Let’s research that Linnet….
Is Tufted Duck perhaps a teenager? I looked up tufted duck images, and none had those very cool spiky feathers arrangement. Looks like s/he’d just visited the hairdresser.