Wild Bird Wednesday 249 - Spot-Billed Duck

Just a brief post this week - life getting in the way of blogging!

These are Spot-Billed Ducks (Anas poecilorhyncha) from Sultanpur National Park, which is the same location as the owls from the last two weeks, and the source of most of my Indian bird pictures.

These ducks are in the same genus as the Mallard and are found in three distinct populations -  an Indian population, a Chinese population and a third in Burma.  These may or may not be three different species, or three sub-species of the same one, depending on which expert you ask.

All I know is that these ducks were in India and that they look rather splendid.  Once again, it was a bit like photographing through a fog and these images are not as crisp as I would like.  Oh well.

As ever, you can join in with WBW by clicking on the link below:

An InLinkz Link-up

Down by the Pond

Just to prove that I don't spend my whole life jetting of to far flung and exotic locations, these picture were taken next to the Freeway about ten minutes from my house!  As you may have guessed it was a busy weekend - but I sneaked out for an hour on Sunday, just to see what I could find.

And what I did find was a Dusky Moorhen, checking out its reflection, and some kind of rather weird and wonderful domestic duck hybrid sort of thing.  While the duck is clearly a 'plastic' - I did rather like it, especially its colours.

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

Wild Bird Wednesday 248 - Spotted Owlet

We stay in India and with owls for this week's WBW.

These are pictures of Spotted Owlets from Sultanpur National Park, which is the same location as last weeks owls.

The Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) is a small owl that is widespread through out much of Asia.  This is a small owl, with a height of about 20cm.  Picking up on a comment from last week, this owl will look familiar to many people as it is in the same genus as the Little Owl and Burrowing Owl.

To ensure there is some continuity from last week's WBW there are also some more annoying sticks!

You can make all of the pictures bigger, but I would recommend doing so for the last image - if you do you can see how one of the eyes of this owl looks much mope 'open' than the other - presumably this is because owl's left eye is in shade.

As ever, you can join in with WBW by clicking on the link below:

An InLinkz Link-up

A walk on the beach

We spent Sunday wandering between Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff - we probably saw more dogs than people - and there weren't that many dogs!  Less than 2 hours from Melbourne - check out the crowds!

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

Wild Bird Wednesday 247 - Indian Scops Owl (and a very annoying stick)

We head back to India for WBW this week, with an Indian Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena) almost showing well.  This is a common enough owl in India, butI was still really pleased to see it.  This bird was roosting in a tree in Sultanpur National Park.

What was rather frustrating is that the tree was growing right next to a wall and I was unable to get a clear shot of the bird without the stick being in view.  If I moved away from the wall I had to photograph through a thicket of smaller branches.  All that being said I still like these images as they carry a sense of the reality that we face when trying to photograph birds!

The Indian Scops Owl is small by owl standards - about 25cm long - but it is one of the largest Scops Owls known.  In these pictures you can see the 'ear tufts' which are characteristic of Scops Owls.

I'm back in the saddle at work this week - catching up from a week off.  Wish me luck!

As ever, you can join in with WBW by clicking on the link below:

An InLinkz Link-up

A short stay at The Prom

Wilsons Promontory is a National Park about 3 hours east and south of Melbourne - it's one of my favourite places.  We spent a few days there in the Easter School holidays.  H and I went for an overnight walk, which was good and richly supplied with chocolate.

We we got back the whole family did some fishing and went on a few other walks - all in all it was a great time!  I did not do much photography, just messed about and had other sorts of fun!

Off on a walk!

Reflections in Sealers Creek

Morning at Sealers Cove (we camped near here)

Sealers Cove 

Sealers Cove

Crimson Rosella - taken just outside our hut

Small fish and a crazy kid

Slightly Larger fish and just as crazy a kid!

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.