'FORUM FRIENDS, WILDLIFE-FROM-WHEREVER' (Off-season, all cams off at Loch Garten)

Thank you for good wishes :)  Trundling along here.

This was during a short break from JAYS!  Pity the Tree Sparrows are so well camouflaged.

I was trying to ID this duck but have been very frustrated by search results - lots of toys and all sorts with no relation to search terms >:(

I would like to move on to another European feeder, any suggestions?  One with a good variety of visitors?

Unknown said:

scylla said:

I was trying to ID this duck but have been very frustrated by search results

It's a male Goosander, Scylla. Known in the USA as a Common Merganser and one of the so called sawbills.

Sorry about the cold I've been struggling with a heavy cold too - no fun is it.

Can't really suggest another European website with a good variety of birds. Most of the interesting ones seem to be in the USA or Canada

Well!  I gave Goosander more consideration than anything else - but obviously fell at the last hurdle ;)  Thank you TeeJay :)

Empathy re nasty cold, and I agree about feeders, too, maybe I'll do Ohio for a few days.

I've never seen the Ohio bird feeder so empty :o  (Plus, YouTube live stream is a bit jerky for me, I'd be grateful if others could comment if they notice it or not.)

Left-to-right: Female Northern Cardinal, spadgers which will have to be checked against the many in North America, and a male Northern Cardinal.  The Cardinals are very feisty and charming, IMHO.

Four o'clock in the morning from the backyard cam  BirdWatchingHQ in Ohio. Not jerky scylla, but a bit hoppy 

Unknown said:

a bit hoppy

Haha ;-D  But thank you for reminding me - I don't know how many times I meant to say, re the Czech cams, "I never see rabbits or foxes".

Ohio cams

I'd never seen the trays so empty !!!

I shan't be doing a lot with them, as they've never been the easiest to handle (for me) and now Scott's upgraded the stream from 1080 to 1440 they're even more clunky :(

Red-winged Blackbirds:

I haven't had time to research this Woodpecker yet, at a quick glance it looks rather small for a GSW but it's hard to tell...

The under-feeder cam at nighttime is not too bad... and what a surprise I got !!!

So, Scylla, you've thrown out a challenge. Let's see if I'm up to it

• American Goldfinches
• Northern Cardinals (m&f)
• Black-capped Chickadee
• House Finches (m&f)
• House Sparrows (m&f)
• Mourning Dove
• Downy Woodpecker (f)

Have I missed any?

I think you got them all TeeJay!
I thought maybe one chipping sparrow for a second flickering by close to the end, but it's too big, therefore it's another house sparrow. I love the cardinals and chickadees. I'm bad at ID differentiation regarding Downy vs Hairy woodpeckers...

Unknown said:

Let's see if I'm up to it

I didn't doubt you, TeeJay - but I'm studying it carefully...

I didn't get the goldfinches, which I thought I would have (I'm very familiar with the Lessers on a low-res cam)... are they in winter plumage?  Plus must check out the Downy Woodpecker but it will take a lot of sightings for that one to sink in :o

Much appreciated! :)