Wild Bird Wednesday 630 - Greater Scaup

The Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) - or just plain old Scaup - is a winter visitor to the loughs, lochs and shallow inshore waters of the UK.  I took these pictures in February of this year.

Scaup begin arriving in the UK during October from their breeding grounds in Iceland, Scandinavia and western Russia. Around 3,000 Scaup winter in the UK with the largest gatherings found in Northern Ireland and Scotland. These birds were feeding around the hides at WWT Reserve at Welney.

The males of this species have black breast, medium grey back, white sides, and a bright yellow eye. The feathers on the can show a greenish sheen, but generally looks black.

As you can see from some of these pictures, these are diving ducks rather the dabbling ducks that 'up-end' to feed.

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  SM

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Mammals on Monday 11 - Ringtail Possum

The Ringtail Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) is a common, tree living marsupial that can be found along all of the East coast of Australia.  It is a herbivore - which often brings it to the attention of urban gardeners and home owners when it eats domestic plants!

This possum also consumes caecotropes, which is material fermented in the caecum and expelled during the daytime when it is resting in a nest. This behaviour is called caecotrophy and is similar to that seen in rabbits. So, much to the surprise of people when they find this out, the possum poo that litters many suburban areas has actually passed through the possum twice!

It's common in the part of Melbourne where I live and I regularly see them in street and garden trees.  They also make good use of the aerial highways provided by the electricity and telephone wires that traverse our streets.

The Ringtail Possum weighs between 550 and 1,100 g and is approximately 30–35 cm (12–14 in) cm long when fully grown (excluding the tail, which is roughly the same length again). It has a long prehensile tail which normally displays a distinctive white tip over 25% of its length.  Ringtail Possums are about the same size as a wild rabbit - but are generally weigh rather less.

During the day, Ringtail Possums sleep in nests that they share with their mate and any dependant offspring and immature offspring of the previous year.

This Ringtail Possum built a nest in our garden, and was a regular visitor for a number of months.  You can see the white tip to its tail - and its pink nose!

These are some images of the most recent to visit our garden - they often set of the movement detectors of our outside lights, which alerts us to their presence.

I suspect that this individual was feeding on the awakening buds.

Cheers:  SM

Creeks near The Prom

I spend a rather wonderful three days at Wilsons Promontory National Park at the start of this week.  The weather was unseasonably mild, and the park very quiet.  In other words, it was near perfect.

There is a small town, Foster,  about an hour from the park and I stayed there. 

As you drive from The Prom to Foster you pass over a series of small creeks and their names have always amused me.  I wonder if they tell a story.  I also wonder if the story should be read in the opposite order!

Its either a sad story, or a happy one depending on direction!  

SM

Wild(ish) Bird Wed 629 - Takahe

The Takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is a flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the rail family. 

The Takahe is an impressively large bird: its average length is about 63 cm and its average weight is about 2.7 kg in males, with females being slightly smaller. Its standing height is around 50 cm. (When I first saw them the thought occurred to me that they looked like purple swamp hens that had been inflated with a pump!)

Like many of its close relatives these birds mainly eat plant matter, although they will eat insects and have even been seen to eat small ducklings.

Takahe plumage, beaks, and legs show typical swamp hen colours. In adult takahe the plumage is silky, and remarkably iridescent, with dark-blue or navy-blue on the head, neck, and underside and peacock blue on the wings.

For many years the Takahe was thought to be extinct, but in 1948 a small population was found in a remote part of South Island in the Murchison Mountains.  Since that time there has been considerable effort put into saving the species.  It has not always been a simple task, with the known population of the bird fluctuating considerably.  It is now thought that there are about 500 of these birds, some in the wild and others in protected sanctuaries.

These birds were photographed at the Orokonui Ecosanctuary, near Dunedin.  They are free roaming birds, within the sanctuary - but they have been released there as part of the conservation effort.  (Hence 'wild-ish')

As ever, to joining with WBW, click on the link below.  SM

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Mammals on Monday 10 - New Zealand Sea Lions

New Zealand Sea Lions (Phocarctos hookeri) are one of the least abundant sea lion species in the world.  They are endemic to New Zealand and have a total population of about 12000 individuals.

These animals were loafing around on the far end of The Mole, a sea wall at Aramoana near Dunedin in New Zealand.

You can see some of the features in these pictures that make these animals sea lions, rather than seals.  Sea lions are able to support themselves on land using their large front flippers, and can use these flippers to 'walk'. They also have visible ear flaps. Seals on the other hand, have small flippers, wriggle on their bellies on land, and lack visible ear flaps.

As you can see, these Sea Lions were not doing a great deal!  I suspect that they may be sub-adult males just loafing about, waiting for time and opportunity to change their status!

Cheers  SM

Auckland, New Zealand

My recent trip to New Zealand really came about because Sal was singing in The World Choir Games in Auckland, and I tagged on a birding trip prior to meeting up with her and her choir for the games.

The second week of the Choir Games kicked off with a Parade of Nations, which was a street parade of all of the competing choirs organised by nation (!). 

I took some pictures of this event and the city.

The event started with a Māori ceremony, and the group led the parade along the water front.  Those who know Sal should be able to find her in a couple of these images.

SM