7 Comments
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Linda Dubeau's avatar

Very interesting and user friendly read. The layout of your text is quite handsome with the graphics and photos. Thank you Richard.

Juliet Wilson's avatar

I love ducks, they're such endearing birds and often have interesting courtship displays.

In the UK we have the Goosander (which is a type of merganser) but we also (less frequently) have the Red breasted Merganser.

I keep a year list of birds, and always start every year with a birding walk in our local area on New Year's Day. Even before we left our city centre flat this New Year's Day we'd seen Sparrowhawk and Waxwing (that's Bohemian Waxwing, I think, we only have the one species and always just call it Waxwing),

Whilst Out Walking's avatar

Yes, I think all the UK Waxwings are Bohemians (Bombycilla garrulus). There are occasional stray Cedars. but they are extremely rare (https://www.historicalrarebirds.info/u20/cedar-waxwing).

Juliet Wilson's avatar

Oh that's interesting, I had no idea Cedar Waxwings had ever visited the UK.

Whilst Out Walking's avatar

All sorts of "our" birds make it across, usually caught up in a storm blowing across the Atlantic. Shetland and the Isles of Scilly are the hotspots for them to land but they can be anywhere. Not many, but just enough to cause excitement.

Juliet Wilson's avatar

Shetland is a hotspot for all kinds of birds, a wonderful place to visit. Yes, every so often i notice a bird from your side of the world ends up over here and causes a stir, though I'd never before heard of Cedar Waxwings being amongst them