Grand Canal, Drimnagh

 

October evening, Grand canal, Drimnagh

 

Well, whaddaya know, a whole weekend of heavy grey skies and come Monday, when most of us are back at work, and the sun splits the sky all day. As soon as I got home from work, I headed out for a walk along the canal.

I didn’t see anything unusual along the canal, just the usual suspects, Mallards, Mute Swans, Moorhens, Jackdaw, Black headed Gulls and Hooded Crows.

 

Hooded Crow, Drimnagh. Unmistakable with grey and black plumage.

 

 

One of the many hoodies in Drimnagh.

 

 

Male mallard (wearing dog mask).

 

 

Female mallard

 

 

and another female mallard......or is it?!?!?

 

 

If you look closer, you can see the green plumage beginning to show and it's beak is plain yellow = male mallard in eclipse plumage

 

 

In comparison, the female shows no signs of any green and her bill is orangey brown, never yellow.

 

 

Male and female Mute Swan forming a pair bond

I was puzzled to see this happening in October? I don’t actually know, but I though they’d start forming bonds coming up to breeding season? Not just before winter?

 

 

Mute swans

 

 

They performed quite a bonding display.

 

 

Cob (male swan) on left with darker orange beak compared to the Pen (female swan) on the right.

 

 

The knob at the top of the beak is also bigger on male Mute Swans (left).

 

 

A familiar sight, the male making himself seem bigger by raising his wings.

 

Within an hour the sun had already set and it was only 6.45pm. Going to have to make sure I get walks in at lunchtimes because soon it’s going to be dark as soon as I leave work…

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