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'Close Encounter'. Nuthatch and Greenfinch confrontation, West Yorkshire.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Nuthatch
The name nuthatch is derived from nut hacker, reflecting the bird's method of opening up nuts by jamming them into a crevice then hammering at them.
Old country names include mud dabbler and mud stopper, both of which note the bird's curious habit of plastering mud around the entrance hole to its nest.
Unlike the treecreeper, which only moves up the trunk of a tree, nuthatches will move both up and down.
Once a bird restricted largely to south-eastern England, the 20th century witnessed a spread to the north, with breeding in Scotland first confirmed in 1989.
Studies have shown that large gardens with oak trees provide the optimum habitat for this species.
One of the reasons for the expansion seems to be the nuthatch's increasing use of bird feeders and bird tables.
As anyone who has nuthatches visiting their feeders will know, they are bold and aggressive, able to stand their ground when larger birds such as starlings attempt to intimidate them.
They will take food from the bird table to store elsewhere: this can lead to sunflowers sprouting in expected places.
Pairs are strongly territorial throughout the year. The fact that food is stored within the territory strengthens the need to defend it.
Though they will readily adopt nest boxes, they cannot resist plastering mud around the entrance hole, even if the latter is already the right size.
The most favoured natural site for a nuthatch is the old nest hole of a great spotted woodpecker.
Nuthatches are one of the nosiest woodland birds in the early spring, but are relatively silent when breeding.
There are 24 different species of nuthatches in the world: our bird has much the widest distribution, as it breeds continually from Portugal to Korea and Japan.
The nuthatch has never been recorded in Ireland.
Most nuthatches are highly sedentary, seldom moving far from where they hatched.
The average distance travelled by a ringed adult nuthatch is less than kilometre.
No British-ringed individuals have ever been recovered abroad, while similarly no birds ringed on the Continent have been found here.
Individuals breeding in Sweden and Norway have distinctive white underparts, unlike the peachy buff of our birds.
Remarkably, a red-breasted nuthatch from North America spent nearly seven months at Holkham in Norfolk from October 1989 to May 1990.
Perhaps surprisingly, the nuthatch has received little in the way of study in Britain, and most of our knowledge comes from work carried out in Sweden and Belgium.
Numbers are known to fluctuate quite widely from year to year, probably reflecting the availability of seed during the winter. Living With Birds Notes.
Boating Pool,
Bushy Park,
Hampton.
The mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurosiberia, and North Africa and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. The male birds (drakes) have a glossy green head and are grey on their wings and belly, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is 81–98 cm (32–39 in) and the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in) long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing 0.72–1.58 kg (1.6–3.5 lb). Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domesticated ducks.
The last day of April 2025 and another trip to WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.
There was a group of six Gadwall flying around over the outer fields and Tack Piece Lagoon at Slimbridge. I Spent time catching individual Ducks.
The Gadwall is a very grey-coloured dabbling duck, a little smaller than the Mallard, and with an obvious black rear end. It shows a white wing patch in flight. When seen close up the grey/brown colour is made up of exquisitely fine barring and speckling.
Northern Shovelers (Spatula clypeata) trail only Mallards and Blue-winged Teal in overall abundance. Their populations have been healthy since the 1960s and have soared in recent years to more than 6.5 million birds most likely because of favorable breeding, migration, and wintering habitat conditions. The bill of the Northern Shoveler is big and shaped like a shovel, but that odd-shaped bill has about 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges that act like a colander, filtering out tiny crustaceans, seeds, and aquatic invertebrates from the water. Northern Shovelers are monogamous and remain together longer than most pairs of other dabbling ducks. They form bonds on the wintering grounds and stay together until just before fall migration. Look around the fringes of shallow areas for groups of ducks with their heads down foraging intently. They tend to use more stagnant pools of water than other ducks, so you may also find them in smaller and murkier pools of water. The male's bright white chest will surely attract your attention if you don't immediately see their giant bill. Shovelers are a little less wary than other ducks, sometimes allowing closer looks without the need for binoculars.
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Perhaps the most outwardly distinctive of the dabbling ducks, the Northern Shoveler inhabits wetlands across much of North America. Its elongated, spoon-shaped bill has comblike projections along its edges, which filter out food from the water... www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Shoveler/id
Sturgeon County, Alberta
IMG_7297_ 2019 05 02
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This is what is meant by "dabbling ducks". This is a pair of domestic ducks living in the wild. The big white one is a farm breed known as American Pekin Duck (think Aflac). No clue on the smaller brown duck, this was the only view I saw, snapped the shot and kept walking.
Domestic Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus)
White Rock lake, Dallas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
The mallard or wild duck is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru.
I rarely dabble in HDR or street photography, but last weekend I attended the +Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk organised by +Thomas Vaclavek in #sydney and took my new Nikon DSLR and Sigma fisheye lens out for a walk I didn't take many "Normal" shots so here is the first of my interpretation of #StreetPhotography
Taken at Thornton Reservoir, Thornton, Leicestershire.
This is my third visit, the previous two I couldn't locate it.
Today myself and my grandson Harry located it quite quickly, but it was only partially visible, thanks to other duck activity it came out briefly and these and more shots were taken. It was not possible to get any closer so these are distant shots.
The garganey is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and western Asia, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to southern Africa, India, Bangladesh and Australasia in winter.
With over 10 million Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) residing in North America alone, the Mallards are one of the best-known and most recognizable ducks. the mallard is a dabbling duck found throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas around the world. The most abundant and wide-ranging duck on earth. The mallard usually inhabits the freshwaters of North America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. Mallards usually feed on plants, such as grass seeds, leaves, stems and aquatic plants, and vegetation like grains, rice, oats and corn. However, they are also seen feeding on insects, mollusks, small fish, tadpoles, freshwater snails, fish eggs, frogs and crustaceans. This Mallard drake hides among the weeds along the bank of White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.
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I'd seen males before, but this is my first female redhead duck. So beautiful on the golden water. I don't see this winter duck very often; this is only my 2nd time to see them. When I checked to see if they are dabbling or diving ducks, turns out they use both ways of feeding.
Male & Female Redhead ducks (Aythya americana)
Harry Myers Park, Rockwall
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com
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A trip to Slimbridge, Gloucestershire in early November 2023. The water levels on the lagoons on the outer fields were starting to rise and the winter birds starting to arrive.
A male Eurasian Teal on the Tack Piece Lagoon.
The Eurasian Teal, also known as the Teal or Common Teal, is the smallest dabbling duck in Europe.
The Eurasian Teal is similar to the Green Winged Teal which differs by having a vertical white stripe on the side of the breast and a much less defined white border around the green stripe on the face.
Many hundreds of Teal fly into Slimbridge to spend their Winter on the outer fields.
The Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the grey duck in New Zealand, where it is also known by its Maori name, pārera. This sociable duck is found in a variety of wetland habitats, and its nesting habits are much like those of the mallard, which is encroaching on its range in New Zealand. It feeds by upending, like other Anas ducks. The Pacific Black Duck is mainly vegetarian, feeding on seeds of aquatic plants. This diet is supplemented with small crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic insects. 5270
I was delighted to see a couple of the Green-winged Teal drakes at Spenard Crossing in Anchorage. I always think of these guys as green masked super ducks even though they are smaller than most ducks! I didn't see any females with them, just a couple of drakes that were just dabbling away so much I had to take what shots I could as they would lift their heads briefly between dabbling. In this shot you can see all the water beaded up on his head and some slipping off the bill as spheres headed back to merge with the lake.
Taken 24 May 2018 at Spenard Crossing, Anchorage, Alaska.
Perhaps the most visible characteristic of the Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) is its large spoon-shaped bill, which widens towards the tip and creates a shape unique among North American waterfowl. The bill of the Northern Shoveler is big and shaped like a shovel, but that odd-shaped bill also has about 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges that act like a colander, filtering out tiny crustaceans, seeds, and aquatic invertebrates from the water. The shovelers are drawn to feeding areas by other birds feeding in an area. Shovelers take advantage of the food particles churned to the surface by the other birds swimming or wading in the area. Single birds may swim in a tight circle to create a whirlpool to cause food to come to the surface. Shovelers are also known to dabble, usually for lengthier periods than other surface feeders. They can also dive using their wings to swim underwater in shallow marshes. This drake Shoveler was photographed at White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas
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A female Northern Shoveler making a big splash at The Pool in Central Park, New York City.
The aptly named Northern Shoveler has a shovel-shaped bill that quickly sets it apart from other dabbling ducks. It is a medium-sized duck that tends to sit with its rear a bit higher out of the water almost like its bill is pulling its front hand down.
Breeding male shovelers are bold white, blue, green, and rust, but their most notable feature is their white chest and white lower sides. In flight, males flash blue on the upper wing and green on the secondaries (the speculum). Female and immature shovelers are mottled in brown and have powdery-blue on the wings that is sometimes visible on resting birds. Their very large orange bill is their most notable field mark.
--- allaboutbirds.org
The last day of April 2025 and another trip to WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.
There was a group of six Gadwall flying around over the outer fields and Tack Piece Lagoon at Slimbridge. I Spent time catching individual Ducks.
The Gadwall is a very grey-coloured dabbling duck, a little smaller than the Mallard, and with an obvious black rear end. It shows a white wing patch in flight. When seen close up the grey/brown colour is made up of exquisitely fine barring and speckling.
The Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east. It is usually called the grey duck in New Zealand, where it is also known by its Maori name, pārera. This sociable duck is found in a variety of wetland habitats, and its nesting habits are much like those of the mallard, which is encroaching on its range in New Zealand. It feeds by upending, like other Anas ducks. The Pacific Black Duck is mainly vegetarian, feeding on seeds of aquatic plants. This diet is supplemented with small crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic insects. 30616
Towards the end of March I made another trip to Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.
A immature male Tufted Duck Dabbling on the Tack Piece Lagoon.
The Tufted Duck is a medium-sized diving duck, smaller than a Mallard. It's black on the head, neck, chest and back, and white on the sides. It has a small crest and a yellow eye. In flight it shows an obvious white stripe across the back of the wing.
Fascinating To See The Varied Down In The Mallard Ducklings ~
Hopefully I'll Get To See Them Mature As To Date They Occupy The Same Strech Of Water !
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‘Landing stage'. Canada Goose, Branta canadensis, breaking flight to land on water, West Yorkshire.
Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.
Canada Geese eat grain from fields, graze on grass, and dabble in shallow water by tipping forward and extending their necks underwater. During much of the year they associate in large flocks, and many of these birds may be related to one another. They mate for life with very low “divorce rates,” and pairs remain together throughout the year. Geese mate “assortatively,” larger birds choosing larger mates and smaller ones choosing smaller mates; in a given pair, the male is usually larger than the female. Most Canada Geese do not breed until their fourth year; less than 10 percent breed as yearlings, and most pair bonds are unstable until birds are at least two or three years old. Extra-pair copulations have been documented.
During spring, pairs break out from flocks and begin defending territories. Spacing of these pairs is variable and depends on availability of nest sites and population density; where population is large, even after a great many fights birds may end up nesting in view of one another, and some populations are semi-colonial.
Canada Goose threat displays may involve head pumping, bill opened with tongue raised, hissing, honking, and vibrating neck feathers. When an intruding goose doesn’t retreat, geese may grab each other by breast or throat and hit each other with their wings. Fighting may result in injuries.
Female selects nest site, builds nest, and incubates eggs. She may brood goslings in cold, wet, or windy weather and while they’re sleeping for first week after hatching. Male guards the nest while female incubates.
Soon after they hatch, goslings begin pecking at small objects, and spend most of their time sleeping and feeding. They remain with their parents constantly, though sometimes “gang broods” form, especially in more southern latitudes. These can include at least two broods, and sometimes five or more, that travel, feed, and loaf together, accompanied by at least one adult.
Young often remain with their parents for their entire first year, especially in the larger subspecies. As summer wanes birds become more social; they may gather in large numbers at food sources; where food is limited and patchy, may compete with displays and fights.
In winter, Geese can remain in northern areas with some open water and food resources even where temperatures are extremely cold. Geese breeding in the northernmost reaches of their range tend to migrate long distances to winter in the more southerly parts of the range, whereas geese breeding in southern Canada and the conterminous United States migrate shorter distances or not at all. Individuals tend to return to the same migratory stopover and wintering areas year after year. Spring migration may be difficult for observers to track because of over-wintering birds and movements between night time resting areas and feeding areas, but the bulk of spring migratory movements tend to move north behind the retreating snow line, where the temperature is averaging 35 degrees.
Migrating flocks generally include loose aggregations of family groups and individuals, in both spring and fall. Flights usually begin at dusk, but may begin anytime of day, and birds fly both night and day. They move in a V formation, with experienced individuals taking turns leading the flock. All About Birds Notes.
Female mallard, female hybrid mallard? and male mallard
The mystery duck seems larger than the female mallard, though it does have some similar traits. The beak, orange feet and eye area look much the same.
A return trip to Slimbridge in Gloucestershire in early March 2024.
Another image of one of the few male Northern Shovelers that I saw on the day flying in to land on the Tack Piece Lagoon.
The Northern Shoveler is my favourite Duck that we see in the UK.
The Northern Shoveler, or Shoveler, is a Dabbling Duck and is common in northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America.
The Shovelers bill has developed a comb like structure on its edges which acts like a sieve to filter out food from the water's surface.
The American Wigeon, also American Widgeon or Baldpate, (Anas americana) is a species of dabbling duck found in North America. This species is classified with the other wigeons in the dabbling duck genus Anas, which may be split, in which case wigeons could go into their old genus Mareca again. It is the New World counterpart of the Eurasian Wigeon.
The American Wigeon is a medium-sized bird; it is larger than a teal, but smaller than a pintail. In silhouette, the wigeon can be distinguished from other dabblers by its round head, short neck, and small bill. It is 42–59 cm (17–23 in) long, with a 76–91 cm (30–36 in) wingspan and a weight of 512–1,330 g (1.13–2.9 lb). This wigeon has two adult molts per year and a juvenile molt in the first year, as well.
The breeding male (drake) is a striking bird with a mask of green feathers around its eyes and a cream colored cap running from the crown of its head to its bill. This white patch gives the wigeon its other common name, baldpate (pate is another word for head). Their belly is also white. In flight, drakes can be identified by the large white shoulder patch on each wing. These white patches flash as the birds bank and turn. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.
The hens are much less conspicuous, having primarily gray and brown plumage. Both sexes have a pale blue bill with a black tip, a white belly, and gray legs and feet. The wing patch behind the speculum is gray. They can be distinguished from most ducks, apart from Eurasian Wigeon, by shape. However, that species has a darker head and all grey underwing. The head and neck coloring of the female is different as opposed to the Eurasian Wigeon. It nests on the ground, near water and under cover. It lays 6–12 creamy white eggs. Flocks will often contain American Coots.
The American Wigeon is a noisy species, and in the field can often be identified by their distinctive calls. Drakes produce a three note whistle, while hens emit hoarse grunts and quacks. The male whistle makes a whoee-whoe-whoe, whereas the female has a low growl qua-ack.
American wigeon. California.
During the late 80's the CSX dabbled with running their own version of the NS' RoadRailer trains. According to the lettering on the side of the first trailer they called it XpressRailer. I'm not sure where the train originated out of, Toledo or Detroit (?), and I think headed down to Atlanta, on a schedule that put it through Deshler in the early morning hours.
Towards the waning days of this experiment the CSX put their executive F-units on the train. I headed over to Deshler this particular morning in hopes of catching the train. The good news was that I got there just in time to catch the train, but the bad news was it only had the one GP40-2 for power instead of the F-units. It is seen here going across the diamond with the CSX's main between Chicago and Willard. A small portion on the interlocking tower is visible behind the locomotive.
With over 10 million Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) residing in North America alone, the Mallards are one of the best-known and most recognizable ducks. the mallard is a dabbling duck found throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas around the world. The most abundant and wide-ranging duck on earth. The mallard usually inhabits the freshwaters of North America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. Mallards usually feed on plants, such as grass seeds, leaves, stems and aquatic plants, and vegetation like grains, rice, oats and corn. However, they are also seen feeding on insects, mollusks, small fish, tadpoles, freshwater snails, fish eggs, frogs and crustaceans. This Mallard drake was photographed as he landed at White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.
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The last day of April 2025 and another trip to WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.
There was a group of six Gadwall flying around over the outer fields and Tack Piece Lagoon at Slimbridge. I Spent time catching individual Ducks.
The Gadwall is a very grey-coloured dabbling duck, a little smaller than the Mallard, and with an obvious black rear end. It shows a white wing patch in flight. When seen close up the grey/brown colour is made up of exquisitely fine barring and speckling.
Teals are small dabbling ducks. Males have chestnut coloured heads with broad green eye-patches, a spotted chest, grey lower sides and a black edged yellow tail. Females are mottled brown. Both show bright green wing patches (speculum) in flight. They are thinly distributed as a breeding species with a preference for northern moors and mires. In winter, birds gather in low-lying wetland in the south and west of the UK. Of these, many are continental birds from around the Baltic and Siberia. At this time, the UK is home to a significant percentage of the north-west European wintering population making it an Amber List species.
Kicking off the weekend with a little Mallard cuteness. In 2015, during the hot summer months of July and August I traveled up to Lansing, NY a few times looking for shorebird activity. It was hot so I didn't mind standing in water to my waist to get closer to the small island where I found them. While there I often saw duck families swim through the area, Mallards, Mergansers and even Wood Ducks. At this young age, this Mallard duckling is already dabbling. Young ducks are born intuitively knowing how to feed themselves and begin foraging as soon as they leave the nest. The mother is needed only for brooding and protection. July 25, 2016
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Dabbling with the dark side of Easter today.
And I fully encourage you to check out the #LEGOEaster group (just click the link in the lower right) to see some more great easter themed photos by various RFLMs and RLUGs. And you can join in too.
This one is by me, Kale, as part of Frostbricks, but you already knew that right? :D
Naples Botanical Gardens
Southwest Florida
USA
The blue-winged teal (Spatula discors) is a species of bird in the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. One of the smaller members of the dabbling duck group, it occurs in North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia, and south to northern Texas. It winters along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and south into the Caribbean islands and Central America.
The range is all of North America except western and northern Alaska, northern Yukon Territory, northern Northwest Territories and the northeastern area of Canada. Blue-winged teal are rare in the desert southwest, and the west coast. The breeding habitat of the blue-winged teal is marshes and ponds.
Blue-winged teal inhabit shoreline more often than open water and prefer calm water or sluggish currents to fast water. They inhabit inland marshes, lakes, ponds, pools, and shallow streams with dense emergent vegetation. In coastal areas, breeding occurs in salt-marsh meadows with adjoining ponds or creeks. Blue-winged teal use rocks protruding above water, muskrat houses, trunks or limbs of fallen trees, bare stretches of shoreline, or mud flats for resting sites.
He just came up from dabbling and had water dripping from his bill & droplets on his head. The closer it gets to breeding season, the longer his tail gets.
Male Northern Pintail Duck (Anas acuta)
White Rock Lake, Dallas
My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com