Birding Axarquia: New Zealand

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

New Zealand - Part 3: Ducks

Part 3: Ducks

Very few ducks were seen albeit loads of paradise Shelduck and Scaup in localise locations. I even saw a M then got really excited when I saw a couple of Blue Duck on a small lake on the edge of Wanganui. However, stopping the car for closer inspection and photographs, i realised that the reason the birds had not paddle or flown away was because they were ornamental models floating on the water!!!

Grey Duck Anas superciliosa

Paradise Shelduck Tadorna variegata (Breeding female above and males below)

Australasian Shoveler Anas rhynchotis (Above and below)


Grey Teal Anas gracilis

New Zealand Scaup Aythya novaeseelandiae (Abobe and below)

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Birding Holidays

Birding the Odiel and Donana National Park. Now might be the time to think of taking a short break in a de-luxe apartment in Punta Umbria which gives easy access to both the Odiel Marshes and the Donana National Park. You might even take the short drive over the Portuguese border to the great birding sites around Castro Marim.

Take a look at this special offer which is excellent value for money, especially if you want to combine your birding with a holiday.

www.birdinghuelva.weebly.com

Background Information

About Bob Wright
Occupation: Retired
Location: Mezquitilla, Axarquia (Malaga)

I retired at the end of 1998 having been a primary school headteacher for thirty years. After a couple of years undertaking some consultancy/ training work with headteachers, I moved to the Axarquia area of the Costa del Sol in Spain. After 13 years living on a mountain top near Velez Malaga overlooking Lake Vinuela to the north and the sea to the south we moved down to the coast at Mezquitilla and now have the beach within 20 metres of our rented property.

I have been a birder for over fifty years and before leaving GB I was a qualified "Ringer" for the BTO, undertaking most of my studies in Staffordshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. All three counties being well away from the coast, it is not surprising that my main field of interest were those "Little Brown Jobs" (often referred to as LBJs), with a special emphasis on roost work in the autumns and winters and early morning visits to favoured sites, such as Charwelton on the Banbury road from Daventry where, in June and July, it was possible to catch and ring well over an hundred birds and still be home by just after nine am to take the family shopping!

Always an interest in classical music, I have also sung in operettas and one appearance in a "grand opera" (Aida). Most of the former was with the Stamford Gilbert & Sullivan Players where I had the good fortune to appear, rather than star, in all save "Utopia".

Interests
Birding
photography
music
historical and nature visits