Psilos Bird Journal
Thursday October 8th 2009
     
"The Mallards have it"
 
 

Yet another beautiful autumnal day with clear blue skies and very little wind. About forty Whooper swans are now around on the reserve but they are all very distant and never once throughout the afternoon did they take to the skies and come any closer. The dominant bird species around today where Mallards and Pink footed geese with numbers on the reserve being far lower than last week.. I was hoping for more species of duck to photograph in flight but instead I got wave after wave of Mallards. Still in the beautiful light they looked fantastic.

There is nothing more frustrating that having gorgeous light and not really having the birds you want flying around. Still I guess if bird photography were so predictable it would be boring and not so much of a challenge. If I were to day dream I would have a whole flock of Pintail flying up and down before me dazzling me with their flying skills and stunning plumage. Oh well never mind maybe one day this winter they will. Back to real life and at least one Pintail out of the dozen or so that were around obliged my fantasy and came flying past.
 
One family group that I noticed yet again was the Canalag family. Two juvenile GreylagXCanada geese with adult Greylags. There were around last week and it always good to see birds that you recognise.
 
 
Naturally the Pink footed geese are never far from view. There were fewer around today but still very dominant. I could fill all my journal pages ten times over with flight shots of these birds, which I love. but I reckon you would all get sick of them and stop reading so here are just a few of my favourites from today.

 
The moon was high and bright in the sky today making a wonderful backdrop for the geese as they flew in.