Green-winged & Eurasian Teal

Not the first time I've blipped teals, they first appeared on 25th April in one of my better photos. Today we saw this Green-winged teal (vertical white stripe), in among lots of Eurasian teal, but could I get a good photo of them together -no, they were far too busy feeding as the tide came in. So I've resorted to stitching their better poses together.

In winter the average Scottish population of Eurasian Teal is around 40,000, whereas their American cousin the Green-winged teal has about 20 Scottish records annually. So with a bitter north wind blowing across the Forth, our first ever sighting of this American visitor was a welcome distraction, but eventually we were forced to retreat to the car for some warmth.

We drove back to Perth via the scenic route over the Ochils, where we encountered our first snow of the winter (where did autumn go?), I think we'll be seeing a fair bit more over the next few days.

Stay warm and safe y'all - as the Green-winged teal might say

Bigger in Large.