I had two odd birdwatching moments yesterday at
Musselburgh. First I was watching some mallards, renowned for their
aggresive mating, with the male seeming to try to drown the female,
often groups of males jumping on top of the one female. Yesterday though the
female had obviously decided it was time to get revenge, there she was,
on top of amale, biting his neck!
The second oddity was seeing a skylark singing from a perch! I don't think I've ever seen that before, I
mean they're called skylarks because they sing from the sky! One of the
most evocative of summer sounds, even on a cold grey day with snow
still on the distant hills. When I shared this observation on Twitter, someone replied saying that skylarks often sing from a perch. It is of course, wonderful to hear a skylark, wherever it happens to be, their populations are decreasing quite alarmingly across the UK. I know at least three areas around Edinburgh where they still nest, and hopefully they'll continue to do so.
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Interesting day birding.
ReplyDeleteTo parody RG over at A Houseful of Rabbits: Birds are weird!
I should add that birding is one of my favorite pastimes and I really love them.
Beautiful birds Skylarks!
ReplyDeleteI had not heard this about skylarks before Juliet. I love their song - it is Summer personified.
ReplyDeleteAs to that female mallard - good for her I say!
The Skylark's song must be wonderful and now I must google to see if it is different from what we call meadowlarks. Must be, because they always sing from perches. Anyway, any bird song is wonderful...our alarm these days is a mockingbird who sings beautifully and differently every day.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, we have noticed that those beautiful ducks are not as sweet and innocent as they appear!)
Good for that female mallard getting her revenge haha.
ReplyDelete