Last Sunday at Slimbridge

[wellinghall]

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Those are wonderful - thank you.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful. I especially liked the close-up of feathers (on a back?) and the first two - the calmly meditative bird, and the one with long curving beak and spots of greenery. Thank you!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The back is, I think, of a male Goldeneye duck; the meditative bird is a black-headed gull in winter plumage; and the upturned bill belongs to an avocet.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ("Avocet" sounds like it ought to be the name of a particularly streamlined and fuel-efficient aircraft.)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Well, there is this -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Avocet

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

And this -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocet_ProJet

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Oh, brilliant! :D Thanks!!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

You're welcome :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I particularly like the black-headed gull (not sure I would have recognised it as that though!) and the avocet.

although, flamingos are always great. They look so improbable and Art Nouveau

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

(and yes, Art Nouveau is just the right term!)

[mrkinch.livejournal.com]

Great photos! I recognize the hooded merganser (an exotic for you?) and the avocet (very similar to ours), and I looked up the black-headed gull, but I can't identify the geese. Do you know?

Thanks for alerting me!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Yes, the hooded merganser is an exotic over here. The geese are Hawaiian or Nene geese - another exotic here, and one which Sir Peter Scott was instrumental in saving.

(And it was a very foggy day, which doesn't help identification!)

[mrkinch.livejournal.com]

Wow, unintended irony. I grew up in Hawaii in the 50s and early 60s and if I saw a Nene as a kid, in the Honolulu Zoo, perhaps, I don't recall because I was uninterested in birds. Still, you'd think I'd recognize it now! If only because I think this isn't the first photo you've posted and that's such an interesting association. Thank you!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

You are very welcome :-)