Giant Lesser Scaup on the local patch

only kidding, it's our third Aythya hybrid of the season - hot on the heels of a presumed Ring-necked Duck x Tufted Duck and presumed Greater Scaup x Tufted Duck (plus a genuine Greater Scaup last month) here at Stoke Newington Reservoirs, I give you......




..... a drake presumed Common Pochard x Tufted Duck hybrid. Ok, so he may be a mongrel, but I like him.

And sifting through the flock multiple times on a daily basis is not only paying off, but is actually entertaining - ducks are awfully underrated.

Snow Goose

Blue Heron

The Snow goose was a fluke, apparently nobody else saw it. The Canada Geese it is with are not Greater, and to my eyes a mixture of Lesser and a few Richardsons, but that's speculative.

Mark - I'll post the sparrows in the next day or two. And I don't know why you persist with the idea that either a converter or image stabilization is the answer to your photographic woes - the reason your Gulls are vastly superior to mine is the exact same as your complaint, plus your lens is acknowledged as a superior flight lens to mine. Your photos are consistently good - consider also I spend much more time photographing than you, and probably editing likewise. [I think this is best talked about in a more suitable scenerio. Mark]

- The above was a response to your previous blog entry, a scenario of your choosing. We've talked of it previously in a 'more suitable scenario' but you still seem unhappy with the lens you were given. May I suggest you trade-in? Current used prices would see you having to throw down less than two hundred quid to get a 100-400 in similar shape. And if you want my converter, you can have it. I haven't taken a decent picture with it attached. If you would like to trade lenses in Florida that would be fine.
Some idiot keeps writing the name of convenience foods on my posts....

A New England (3)

A few random shots from the trip; sadly no decent Black or Surf Scoter shots our kid, and look forward to seeing your better photos of the Ipswich Sparrows. Oh for an image-stabilised lens and / or a converter..... full photo journal on the blog. (P.S. I think a Red-throat has secretly crept into your Common Loon post)

A New England (2)

A handful of the many Kumlien's Gulls from the Gloucester area (and our only Glaucous Gull, with American Herring and Kumliens, above) - many more on the blog here.

American Wigeon

Ducks are now one of my favorite families, in no small part thanks to living here.

Harlequin, Eider, Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers.

Canvasback, Black Duck,Tufted Duck and Lesser Scaup.

White-winged and Surf Scoters.

I'm hoping Mark has better Surf Scoter and some Black - I know we had good views but not when I had a camera.

Deep sea divers

Double-crested Comorant

Common Loons, although the middle bird looked distinctly small in the field. Hybrid Arctic, anyone?

As Mark politely pointed out, the bottom bird is a Red-throat. The curse of 'thumbnails', is my excuse, but really it is simply more careless behaviour, the type that gets people killed, or thrown out of elite birding circles.

Favorite bird of the year

This Red-throated Diver was about 300 yards from downtown Pawtucket. Primal in its splendor.

I have very few decent gull shots as I forgot I had the converter on my lens, but These Iceland (Kumlins) were pretty tame and plentiful. Mark should have good shots. At least one bird was 'dark' enough to be considered Thayers (IMO).