Tufted Duck Bath

Heh, you're all going to be bored stiff of birds by the time I get this out of my system!

Talking of being bored stiff. That was me this morning at work. By 10am it had seemed like I'd completed a full morning. It was going soooooo slow. There was no way I was going to be able to handle a full day of that so I decided to take a half day.

Got home about 2pm and after a quick bite I headed up to St. Margaret's Loch to see what avian activity I could spot! Luckily a couple of parent/kid groups had turned up to feed the birds so there was lots going on. Weather was mixed. It drizzled a wee bit to begin with but it brightened up a little. The wind was strong though and it proved tricky to follow the gulls so close.

The gang were all there of course and there were several opportunities for individual shots too. But it was the bird baths that caught my attention. The swans were impressive but this wee guy settled right in front of me for his ablutions. He was a right wee show off but to be fair, he did enough to be blip of the day!

The Tufted Duck is a medium-sized diving duck with a population of close to one million birds. The adult male is all black except for white flanks and a blue-grey bill. It has an obvious head tuft that gives the species its name.