SATURDAY CRITTERS - Lake in Phoenix Park, Dublin

As most of you know I went to Dublin this week for a day and walked through Phoenix Park where I found a small lake.  These are the birds found on the lake and around the grounds.  Magpie, Jackdaw, Hooded Crow all had young although it was difficult to tell the different between them as they were the same size and looked very similar.  I wonder will you be able to see the difference?  

Also other birds, like the Black headed gull and Mallard were already starting to moult.

Tufted duck

Black headed gull

Mallard

Little Grebe

Mute Swan

Mallard

Wood Pigeon

Magpie

Jackdaw

There were a lot feeding their young but didn't get a shot of this.

Hooded Crow

The young one is far right in this shot.

Mute Swan and Coot.  

There were  also Moorhen on the lake.

Now this was a very odd looking bird! 

Hooded Crow

Magpie

The one far left is the young one.

Blackbird -male

Grey Wagtail 

There were 2 Grey Wagtails and these shots look more like paintings than photographs, in fact I like them but they wouldn't win a photos competition!

Hooded Crow

the one nearest the bin is the young crow.

Blackbird -female 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the birds in Phoenix Park and next Thursday I will show you what the rest of the park looked like.

i am linking this post with Eileen's meme

SATURDAY CRITTERS

Thank you for visiting.

Many thanks for leaving comments on any of my posts.

Have a safe and happy weekend

Independence Day - For all American Bloggers

This post is for all American blogging friends.

 No matter how you are celebrating the 4 July,

I wish you a very HAPPY DAY.

Stay safe today. 

Smile a lot.

Look out for the lonely.

Help someone else who is less fortunate than yourself. 

WEEKEND REFECTIONS - Donaghadee Harbour

WEEKEND REFLECTIONS -Train in Dublin

I have just returned from a quick visit to Dublin and my laptop is going away to have more hard drive installed so I am leaving you with this 1 shot of the Luas train reflected in this window.   James will be linking me into WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

Thanks you for visiting and leaving any comments.  I will catch up when I have my laptop back again!

GOOD FENCES - Dublin

I have just returned from a quick visit to Dublin and my laptop is going away to have more hard drive installed so I am leaving you with this 1 shots for Dublin.  Then is a story attached to it but that will have to wait now for another day.  Tex willing be linking me in to GOOD FENCES.

Thanks you for visiting and leaving any comments.  I will caught up when I have my laptop back again!

Northern Wheatear on Copeland Island in May

I am posting a few posts ahead for you because my laptopp is going away for a few days to have more hard rive installed, so Tex, James and Eileen are going to  link my post in on the relevant days for me.  Thanks Folks.  

This is the last post from my trip to the Copeland Island in May and I am featuring the beautiful Wheatear bird to fit in with Stewart’s meme of

 WILD BIRDWEDNESDAY.

The Wheatears are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the Thrush family Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the Flycatcher family Muscicapidae. This is an Old World group, but the Northern Wheatear has established a foothold in eastern Canada and Greenland and in western Canada and Alaska.

The name "Wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a 16th-century linguistic corruption of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.

Oenanthe is also the name of a plant genus, the water dropworts, and is derived from the Greek oenos  "wine" and anthos  "flower".  In the case of the plant genus, it refers to the wine-like scent of the flowers.  In the case of the Wheatear, it refers to the Northern Wheatear's return to Greece in the spring just as the grapevines blossom.

Most species have characteristic black and white or red and white markings on their rumps or their long tails.  Most species are strongly sexually dimorphic; only the male has the striking plumage patterns characteristic of the genus, though the females share the white or red rump patches.

Wheatears are terrestrial insectivorous birds of open, often dry, country. They often nest in rock crevices or disused burrows.  Northern species are long-distance migrants, wintering in Africa.

There are 22 Wheatear species

I hope you have enjoyed my posts from my May trip to the Copeland Island and will not get fed up seeing my photographs from my June trip to the island.  I hope you will join me tomorrow.

Thank you for visiting today.

Many thanks for leaving comments on any of my posts.

Copeland Island - last evening

Following on from yesterday’s post, it seemed very quiet on Copeland Island when the 20 people left the island and the 3 of us had it all to ourselves again.  Wonderful.   Wesley continued ringing and we were very surprised at the number of birds actually ringed that weekend as the previous weekend, only 4 birds were caught.   Below is a Sedge Warbler.

Spotted Flycatcher

Willow Warbler

Everything is recorded during the ringing process.  The bird is aged and if possibly sexed, its wings are measured, it is weighed and generally examined for its state of health.  Wesley was particularly pleased that we had 5 Spotted Flycatchers and a late Redwing.  All together we had 20 birds ringed, all new birds and 1 retrap.  We would have had 3 Jackdaws caught in the Crow trap however they were clever enough to find a way out!

Pied Wagtail  There are several pairs on the island.

This was an exhausted racing pigeon and I tried to get the ring number so I could report it  but was unsuccessful.

We have quite a number of wild Fuchsia bushes on the island.

Wheatear

There were always at least 2 Oystercatcher on the wall you could see from the kitchen window when doing the dishes.

There are a lot of seals in this shot, both Common and Grey live on and around Mew Island.

Can you see the bird in this shot?

An Eider nesting and very well camouflaged.

A final check on all the Fulmar nesting.

A Pair of Oystercatchers.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I thank you for visiting.

Many thanks for leaving comments on any of my posts.