Whooper Swans and Snow Buntings

A flock of 82 Whooper Swans turned up at Herrington Country Park last week and it turns out that this was the second biggest flock ever in Durham! Here's a small part of the flock.



Then today, Chairman of the Durham Bird Club found two gorgeous Snow Buntings in Hendon.






Two brilliant species, neither found by me - but who cares!

Brooklyn Birding

I have just arrived back from a week in Brooklyn, during which I was lucky enough to go birding in Prospect Park most mornings before breakfast. Temperatures were pretty low (close to freezing on some days) and the light was not that good for photography. But I had lots of fun and saw some great birds.

Thanks to the people at the Prospect Park Birding Blog for providing up-to-date sightings which whetted my appetite before I arrived. What a great local patch to have!

I have only seen a handful of Winter Wrens in the USA, so finding this chap in the undergrowth was a real thrill (despite seeing them all the time in the UK).


Winter Wren


Winter Wren - dodgy photos - it was nearly dark!

Another highlight were the woodpeckers - four species seen - and in particular the absolutely tiny Downy Woodpeckers. They are becoming one of my favourite species! This pair were trying to find food inside some pretty thin grass stems - fascinating to watch a sparrow-sized woodpecker at work:


Downy Woodpecker (male) - what a great pose - but this is what happens when you change the white-balance setting on the camera by mistake!


Downy Woodpecker (male)


Downy Woodpecker (female)

The two common Sparrow species were Song and White-throated, both of which can be pretty birds:


White-throated Sparrow


Song Sparrow

and here are some other miscellaneous birds from the park.


American Robin


Pied-billed Grebe


Belted Kingfisher


Ring-billed Gull