Bird of the Week List

Birdway has a free Bird of the Week email list. One or more photos and a description is sent to members of the list each week. The size of the posting is limited to 200KB but this permits better quality than the faster-loading images on this page.

This list is a Google Group called Birdway to which only Ian can post. To join the group, enter your email address in the box on the right and click the Subscribe button. This will take you to the Google Group joining page for confirmation. Alternatively, email Ian directly and he'll add you to the list.
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Ian uses the bird of the week email to keep list members up to date with developments, such as improvements to the website. Your email address will not be revealed to anyone else nor used for any other purpose.

Current Bird of the Week: Tufted Duck - emailed 31 December 2008

Here's an Irish Bird of the Week to see in the New Year. I first noticed these Tufted Ducks in a Dublin park (St Stephen's Green) when seeking refuge there from the madness of Christmas shopping in Grafton Street a couple of days before Christmas. So, I returned there after Christmas with my camera.

Photo of male Tufted Duck

Tufted Ducks are common diving ducks throughout northern Eurasia. Their small size (to 47cm/18.5in long) and large heads make them look rather toy-like but the black and white plumage of the males, highlighted by their yellow eyes, is very dapper and the brown plumage of the females is quite smart too.

Photo of female Tufted Duck

I send you very best wishes for 2009.
Ian

Previous Bird of the Week: Snow Bunting - emailed 23 December 2008

Please accept my apologies for a delayed bird of the week: I've been travelling to attend the wedding of my niece in Strasbourg last Saturday and am now in Ireland for Christmas and the New Year with my Irish relatives.

Before I left Australia, I was pondering the incongruity of traditional decorative Christmas icons such as snow flakes in the southern summer and searching for similarly contradictory bird photos as subjects for my Christmas cards.

Photo of male snow bunting

In the end, distracted by preparations for travel, I neglected to send any cards, so here is one of the photos that I chose - a Snow Bunting taken on mid-summer's day in Alaska last June. This is a male bird in the full splendour of his black and white breeding plumage. Snow Buntings are circumpolar in distribution and occur in Ireland in winter.

Best wishes,
Ian