Yesterday was a rewarding day for birds. [I wrote that and scheduled it. When I read it this morning I realised that what I meant to say was that it was a rewarding day for me seeing birds]. I was in Town and, unusually, decided to walk down on the quay. Something CJ and I do frequently but I very rarely do on my own. As I walked along the quay and looked into the water I saw a Guillemot just below me. I was quite taken aback. Firstly I had never been so close to one before - I was about 10 metres away. Secondly it was grey - clerical grey. I thought that they were black. In fact when I got home and checked all the pictures show them as being black but one book does show the adult male winter plumage as sometimes being grey with the band under the throat.
Look at that, you've caught it nicely under the water!! :)
ReplyDeleteI guess summer really is over...what a handsome fellow!
ReplyDeleteLove the underwater shot!
Another one I had to look up in a dictionary. Not that it really helps - I'm no good at birds in Swedish either... (I recognize names but there are few I could pair up with pictures...) Very educational to live in the blogworld! Good shots!
ReplyDeleteSorry DT. I should put the Latin name too. It's a Uria aalge. It's a member of the Auk (Alcidae) family
ReplyDeleteGreat shots GB - I wonder what it was doing in the harbour?
ReplyDeleteLOL - If I don't know them in Swedish I certainly don't know them in Latin! (the only time Latin might be of help is if they're not in my English-Swedish dictionary...)
ReplyDeleteI thought the Latin might help if you had a bird book.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! This is so cool!
ReplyDeleteYes. You're right of course. Fact is, I actually do have a bird book, but I keep forgetting. (I bought it second hand some years ago.) Most birds don't present themselves by name to me and then I have a hard time finding them in the book anyway. I'm not a great bird-watcher... The one in your pictures I would certainly never have identified. (looking it up now, in my book it's greyish-black on the back and the head is dark brown)
ReplyDeleteScriptor. Not only was it unusually in the harbour but it was absolutely unfazed by its proximity to me.
ReplyDeleteYes DT. It took me a while to be convinced because all my books show black not grey. The thing was that it couldn't be anything else.