Bird Photography – Langford Lakes Feb 2024

My wife and I took the short trip out to Langford Lakes in Wiltshire this past weekend. While the weather was not great, we did manage to get out and back before the rain moved in. I was able to capture several birds that I have not managed to add to my list, though they are fairly common.

First up is the tufted duck seen below. According to eBird, the tufted duck “feeds mainly by diving, but often spends much of day sleeping”. Sounds like a pretty good gig to me.

The next two photos are of mute swans, each lake seemed to have their own pair. Allaboutbirds.com lists several facts about these beautiful birds. My favorite was that “All of the Mute Swans in North America descended from swans imported from Europe from the mid-1800s through early 1900s to adorn large estates, city parks, and zoos. Escapees established breeding populations and are now established in the Northeast, Midatlantic, Great Lakes, and Pacific Northwest of the U.S.“

Next up is the dunnock, another common but a first for me on my new birding adventures. They are often seen on the ground, this one was rooting in the debris on the ground for breakfast, flipping leaves up in the air over its head.

Another fairly common bird is below, the great tit. Allaboutbirds.org tells us that, “In 20th-century Europe when milk was delivered in glass bottles to the doorsteps of homes, Great Tits and Eurasian Blue Tits learned to puncture the bottles’ foil caps to drink the high-fat cream that floated to the top.”

I have seen and captured numerous images of blue tits, but this was my first confirmed photo of the great tit.

Next is the colorful ring-necked pheasant. Allaboutbirds.org states, “Pheasants practice “harem-defense polygyny” where one male keeps other males away from a small group of females during the breeding season.“. I’m good with my one wife, that sure sounds like a lot of work.

The next two photos are of more common birds, but I enjoyed capturing them in flight. The first is the Canada Goose, the noisy neighbor of the water-fowl world. In the second photo is the generally less noisy, but still fairly rambunctious, Gadwall duck.

Lastly, what would a birding post be without the friendly and beautiful robin, singing his heart out!