giantbluemarlin
Tuesday 6th April 2004, 00:41
My Girlfriend and I saw and photographed a Wood Duck drake whilst out walking in around Clisshold Park yesterday (04/04/04).
My girlfriend saw it first and admired it's plumage. At first glance I though it was a Mandarin. I've seen enough Mandarin Ducks to quickly realise that this was something else. I got a couple of snaps of it before it swam out of range. If I'd have known what it was, I'd have tried harder! Unfortunately it was backlit and I didn't have a long enough lens or a tripod. :( I've attached the picture anyway.
Maybe I'll give it another go with all the kit.
Thought I'd post this information for anyone that cares, in return for the identification this site provided. As we aren't keen birders and didn't realise the rarity, we didn't look for a female. I'll go back and see if they're breeding there.
I have also seen a Green Woodpecker, a Treecreeper and a Long Tailed Tit recently in Clisshold Cemetary a few minutes walk away. Remarkable for London I thought. I haven't seen a treecreeper in years!
Oh, the funny part of this story is that the duck was swimming away when we saw it, but a kindly passer-by with a small child, saw me getting my camera out and kindly threw it some bread to try and keep it there. It seemed very nervous but chewed the chunk of bread for just long enough for me to get a shot before swimming away with the bread. The funny bit is that after I put my camera down, I noticed that the passer-by was Gaz Topp the former uk TV presenter. I felt somehow guilty that I had just been photographing a duck and paid no attention to him at all.;) He seemed to be a really nice bloke I hope I didn't accidentally hurt his feelings by not doing the "Oh! You're that bloke off the telly!" thing!
Best regards and good luck if you go looking.
And if any of you are wondering about my ID, the mighty Blue Marlin is an incredible, huge, apex pelagic marine predator now sadly increasingly endangered, like many other species due to commercial bycatch. For amazing pictures, facts and figures on depletion of the worlds most spectacular, elusive and little known creatures check out: http://www.bigmarinefish.com/marlin.html .
My girlfriend saw it first and admired it's plumage. At first glance I though it was a Mandarin. I've seen enough Mandarin Ducks to quickly realise that this was something else. I got a couple of snaps of it before it swam out of range. If I'd have known what it was, I'd have tried harder! Unfortunately it was backlit and I didn't have a long enough lens or a tripod. :( I've attached the picture anyway.
Maybe I'll give it another go with all the kit.
Thought I'd post this information for anyone that cares, in return for the identification this site provided. As we aren't keen birders and didn't realise the rarity, we didn't look for a female. I'll go back and see if they're breeding there.
I have also seen a Green Woodpecker, a Treecreeper and a Long Tailed Tit recently in Clisshold Cemetary a few minutes walk away. Remarkable for London I thought. I haven't seen a treecreeper in years!
Oh, the funny part of this story is that the duck was swimming away when we saw it, but a kindly passer-by with a small child, saw me getting my camera out and kindly threw it some bread to try and keep it there. It seemed very nervous but chewed the chunk of bread for just long enough for me to get a shot before swimming away with the bread. The funny bit is that after I put my camera down, I noticed that the passer-by was Gaz Topp the former uk TV presenter. I felt somehow guilty that I had just been photographing a duck and paid no attention to him at all.;) He seemed to be a really nice bloke I hope I didn't accidentally hurt his feelings by not doing the "Oh! You're that bloke off the telly!" thing!
Best regards and good luck if you go looking.
And if any of you are wondering about my ID, the mighty Blue Marlin is an incredible, huge, apex pelagic marine predator now sadly increasingly endangered, like many other species due to commercial bycatch. For amazing pictures, facts and figures on depletion of the worlds most spectacular, elusive and little known creatures check out: http://www.bigmarinefish.com/marlin.html .