Tuesday 28 October 2014

Bird Group goes to the Flood Gates.Newtownards

My bird group went to the Flood Gates in Newtownards where about 30,000 Pale bellied Brent geese had arrived from Iceland. We were also pleased to see that the Pintail ducks had arrived for the winter.  We had a new member called Danny with a big camera and some of the shots are his and I will be showing more photographs from this morning’s outing on Thursday and Friday. All in all,  we saw 30 different species of birds in just over 2 hours.


Also this post is especially for Jo from Memorable Meanders as last week she said she had never seen a Brent goose or Pintail duck.  Above is a mixture of Brent and Pintail.


Pintail above and below.




Lapwing


Oystercatcher and Pale bellied Brent goose


Some of the bird class – not much bird watching going on there!!


Mr and Mrs Mallard



Pintail with 1 Shelduck


Pale bellied Brent goose





We moved from the flood Gates to Kiltonga Lake where this Grey Heron had just taken off along with the Black headed gull.


The Grey Heron landed on this blue container (above) 
before taking off again (below)



Now, the next day, was the day of quite high winds and I thought you might  like to see a few shots as I made my way around the coast at my town.  There were 7 naval ships on exercises in the Lough along with many more ships sheltering.



Birds were trying to keep their feet on the ground.  Above is an adult Herring gull and below is a juvenile Herring gull.



Redshank




Cormorant


Now I have a short video of the some of the birds I saw at the Flood Gates (the second clip I have made in slow motion) and the birds taking to the air are the Brent geese.  I have added the video of the rough seas in Belfast Lough.

It can be accessed at

http://youtu.be/ahgm8KA09fA

If there is a black space below, click  it and the video will appear.



I hope you enjoyed seeing this mixed post.  Thank you Danny for your contribution.  

I am linking this post with WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY. Thank you for visiting and also for all your comments

30 comments:

  1. What a great post and outing! I love all the geese and ducks.. I love the cute Redshanks. The water looks a little rough, glad I am not on those ships.. Great post, Margaret. Have a happy week!

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  2. Nice shots - you are not the only one to be posting Pintail this week!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  3. You had a fabulous outing! So many birds! I love seeing the Northern Pintails especially!

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  4. Beautiful creatures, aren't they! Love your photos, Margaret. But that water looks cold.

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  5. so many beautiful images of the shorebirds and a few awesome flight shots!!! feels like home....and perhaps a chill in the air. it's nice that the group enjoys one anothers company!!!!!

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  6. nice collection of birds and ducks! the brents are cute. i love pintails. such graceful looking ducks!

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  7. 30,000 is an amazing number of birds. Wonderful series of photos and video. I liked the navy ships also.

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  8. these are stunning, and 30, 000 that is a lot of birds! You must have so much fun taking shots like these!!

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  9. Fantastic pictures of our Autumn visitors Margaret, and Newtownards is somewhere I've visited when visiting my relatives in Belfast. It's a beautiful place.

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  10. Wow, I love this birdie post! The shots of the heron are spectacular, and I loved the video of the ducks in the water. Have a great day!

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  11. Excellent post. It is a nice variety. MB

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  12. The gray heron is fabulous, and i like the naval ship, too. You are the second blog with pintails today, and I am so glad! I have been trying to identify some that I snapped, and they look so much like them. Now I can compare my shots to yours as well. Do they ever have a white ring around their neck?

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    1. HI Ginny Thanks for your comment and visit. I would need to see what you are talking about inn the duck you photographed.

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  13. Great finds! I love this time of year when a birder has to really carefully look at each waterbird. There are little surprises in these large groups.

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  14. Wonderful photos! Love all that splashing about! :-) How great you have a bird group you go with.

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  15. The geese are beautiful. Sounds like you had a very successful outing.

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  16. Beautiful images. I love the Pintail ducks,they just look so elegant to me.

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  17. Wonderful photos, like the pintails too.

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  18. Love the shots you took of the pale bellied brent goose! And I have something about ships (when I was 5 years old I went with a ship from Indonesia to the Netherlands - it took a month!). Great series - am off to your post below:)

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  19. What a great collection. I see why they are called Pintails and Redshanks!
    ~

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  20. Great photos of so many different birds. The ones I would really like to see would be the Redshank which are listed as "uncommon visitors" down this way.

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  21. Great captures of the ducks and geese. Love the shots of the Grey Heron.

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  22. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, my. Excellent post. Love all the birds [and the ship is cool too]...my favorite images are the ducks riding the waves.

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  23. How exciting to have som many birds arrive so close to your home. Your pictures are wonderful though I was unable to pull up the video. The rough seas look cold. I hope you were dressed warmly on your outing. Great post, Margaret.

    Andrea @ From The Sol

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  24. Any time there are that many ducks and birds is a good tie and place. And wonderful news that they are thriving! Beautiful pics and enjoyed the video. Thanks for your help with the Juvenile Snow Geese ID.

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  25. Oh wow, Margaret, the Pintail and Pale Bellied Brent Geese, the Heron in flight, the dripping wet heron, the heron taking off, the Mallard pair, the ships and the video are all stunning. Thanks for sharing. I only once managed to upload a video onto my blog using the link you offered. I've never been able to do it again. (I want to do another clip of the pups, of course!) I'll see if I manage it again. Once again, thanks for the wonderful post. Greetings, Jo

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  26. Great photos Margaret and a wonderful selection of birds :) Love the Grey Heron pics.

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  27. What a great post Margaret, full of all sorts of good things~

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