Everything's Gone Green.

Eurasian (Common) Green-winged Teal, originally uploaded by Len Blumin.

Well, it may as well have done for all the use these ruddy colour-blind eyes of mine are for identifying birds. Take the Teal, for example, still hanging around on the Irwell near Peel Park in Salford. My identification notes for him said "Dark head, side-stripe, diff col. tail"; I then had to take that pattern and apply it to various duck-shaped possibilities. In the end, after discarding a small number of possible rarities, for various reasons, I alighted on Mr. Teal. Identification had been made easier because he had The Mrs. with him, and the pair taken together are fairly distinctive.
I've had to learn to use patterns in identification to such a degree that unless the colour on a bird is blatantly one of those I can confidently identify (such as the vivid blue found on the back of a Kingfisher) I don't use it. Identifying a solo redwing, particularly when framed against the bright low sunshine we are currently enjoying, is a right pain in the arse, but my job is made easier if I see 80-100 'redwings' flitting from tree to tree. I don't need to see the red stripe then as I'm very unlikely to see a large flock of thrushes. Am I?
A further wrinkle is the change made in some birds between their Winter and Summer plumage. The Little Grebes on the Irwell also caused me some confusion as they're currently 'between coats'; the darker winter colours are being replaced by the more varied, and lighter shade of their summer outfits.

Thanks to Len Blumin off of flickr for the use of his picture of a Eurasian (Common) Green-winged Teal.

Candy Apple Grey.

Grey Heron, originally uploaded by marcmo.

Despite being greeted by thick, icy fog when I got up this morning, I decided to hop into town early to have a bit of a mooch about on the Irwell. Just over the road from Boddies on the nameless bridge I had my usual look up and down. Up towards Salford, a couple of mallards and a visiting pair of goosander could be picked out on the river. Looking the other way, under the railway bridge, towards Chethams, there seemed to be nothing at all. Until, perched in his usual place on top of a fence on the right, I saw a grey heron. They're such, big, lumbering birds, but they seem to have a supernatural ability to melt into the background, fog or not. This one sometimes perches on the other side of the railway bridge, surveying the passing buses and pedestrians, all seemingly-oblivious to his presence.

Thanks to marcmo on flickr for the use of this great picture of a suitably chilled-out grey heron.

Mojo Kitty.

Spotted on Quay Street on the walk between Peel Park and Dolefield on Wednesday - the route I didn't think I would be taking any more, but which keeps happening. Anyhow, I'm not sure what this poster is all about but it made me smile. Earlier, the gift that is The Irwell coughed up another treat in the shape of a pair of Teal feeding near The Crescent. A first for me on this river.

Incidentally, I am aware that the longer, more considered, posts I hinted at in a January post have not materialised. This is mainly because I have been blogging directly from my phone (I am so 2008) along with  spending nearly every day training in or travelling to and from Dewsbury. All change on Monday, though, as it's back to Manchester and the first day at The Hive.

Nine to Five.

Papa Blackbird, originally uploaded by LuLu Witch.

If I opened up the BBC News website one day, and discovered a link to a story which said that scientists had conclusively proved that birds operate a shift system I wouldn’t be in the slightest bit surprised. It was something that I first started noticing when I was pushing my eldest son around Heaton Park on a daily basis, back in the Summer of 2001 when he was brand new and all that.

On different days and at different times there would be a noticeable surfeit of one species of bird in particular. One day it might be blue tits, other days, robins, twittering across the paths, breaking the daytime silence. Half an hour later, another species would be in the ascendancy. I’m sure that there’s a logical and no doubt scientific explanation for it, but it always felt like they were taking turns, clocking on and off duty, as the day went by.

I was put in mind of this early today when walking to work between Salford University and Manchester House I was confronted by a small army of blackbirds. Male, female, on paths, in bushes, up trees, static and scattering to the four winds as I passed by. Normally, I may see one or two, but today was definitely their day at the coalface.

I also had happy encounters with a pair of Little Grebes - a male by the abandoned footbridge, and a tiny female bobbing up and down into the water by The Old Pint Pot, and a Kingfisher skirting the Manchester bank of the river as I peered over the metal and wood-barrier round the back of Café Rouge in Spinningfields.

Thanks to LuLu Witch on Flickr for this great photograph of 'Papa Blackbird' in Sheffield.

Ebony and Ivory.

Cormorant in the Trees, originally uploaded by rutthenut.

I walked back up to Salford University along The Crescent yesterday afternoon and noted the cormorants coming in to roost in the trees across the river, opposite the back end of Maxwell Hall. In retrospect, what I thought might have been a variant crow with white on its wings (see previous post) could, in fact, have been a young cormorant, given that the incident occurred only a few hundred yards from the roost. I'll have another look this morning on my way in.

Thanks to rutthenut on flickr for the super photo of a cormorant in a tree (although this chap is in Surrey).