'I went to see this American vagrant at the Ouse Washes yesterday and was fascinated by its aggressive display behaviour towards a female Shoveler. Aggressive in the sense that it was competing for her with four other male Shovelers and appearing to be winning! When on the ground or in the water, I could get no clue as to why it was even close in the competition, but took a few, slightly distant, photos.
Then a Sparrowhawk diving at something else nearby (a Lapwing? - I had no time to notice) spooked them all into flight for a few seconds, giving me a chance to see the Blue-winged Teal in all its glory. I was too surprised to do anything other than enjoy the moment in my binoculars, but realised I had missed an opportunity! I kept my camera close and fortunately, rewarded by patience, was given a second chance to capture the bird in flight.
It was only when I studied the images on the camera display that it dawned on me how similar the plumages are of these two interacting species. It goes a long way to explaining the behaviour I witnessed.
I enjoyed regarding the ‘six bird’ image afterwards as a fly-by by the Blue Arrows!!'AW
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