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Miscellaneous Birds

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Eagle Owl, Lancashire, 00/05/2007. Ken Capps

European Nuthatch with Black belly, Congleton 14/11/2007.   Interesting, this one. I can find no recorded instance of melanism in Nuthatch. Apart from the breast and flanks this bird is/was otherwise of normal European Nuthatch appearance. The black feathers are neither soiled nor oiled. It will be interesting to see if this trait spreads to offspring in future. Ken Capps

Coal tit with Black belly, Congleton 22/11/2007.   Interesting, this one. I can find no recorded instance of melanism in Coal tit. Apart from the breast and flanks this bird is/was otherwise of normal Coal tit appearance. The black feathers are neither soiled nor oiled. It will be interesting to see if this trait spreads to offspring in future. 20/11/2007 The Nuthatch above was retrapped later. It appears that the terminal third of the breast feathers are either missing, or abraded, leaving the dark two thirds giving this black appearance. OK!? but what is the cause of the missing third in two different species? Ken Capps

Great Tit feather damage. Congleton 17/11/2007 Ken Capps

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Red-throated Diver, Embsay, Yorks. 09/04/2008. A N Other

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Polecat?, 16/12/2007. Ken Capps

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Polecat?, 16/12/2007. Ken Capps