Bored by the lockdown and weather, with new editing software and better understanding of how to use it, I've tried to sort damage done in the past to photos in my "Large Birds" folder. I think much of it was due to the settings of my graphics card and monitor. Photos are from various cameras progressing through the years.
I have a an idea about why Google appears to brighten my photos here which may involve changes and photos missing while I investigate.
Black Cock Grouse) photographed from the car as we drove down an Angus Glen, it was one of nine feeding on the grassy bank
Most people won't associate Carrion Crows with the beach, but they are very resourceful birds and quick to find anything they can eat. One of their tricks is to find a mussel and carry it skywards, dropping it to break it on the rocks, I see this all along the coast and on Montrose Basin
This Crow was hanging around the campervans at Inchcape Park, Arbroath looking for scraps
One of the Collared Doves that always were found at Barry Halt, I wonder with all of the wind farm cable excavations going on if they're still there
This Collared Dove was directly in front of the SWT Centre at Montrose Basin and I was surprised to get a good photo through the window glass
Cuckoo in Glen Lethnot which was watching some rough ground for caterpillars and dropping down for them before returning to the wires
An older photo from Glen Prosen and a fair bit down into the valley
Juvenile Cuckoo on Kinnaber Links which was at the stage of leaving its Meadow Pipit parents
Feral Pigeons still desrve a mention
Strangely I don't have many photos of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, something I'll try to sort out. This one was at Balgavies Loch and probably near the hide
A beautiful bird the Green Woodpecker, alas they seem to have abandoned Montreathmont Forest as the fire breaks have been allowed to grow in depriving them of good feeding habitat
A Grey Hen, the female of the Black Grouse (the male Black Cock is higher up this post) this one was flushed by a dog at Backwater Dam early in 2020. The low winter sun has made it just too colourful for me
Not the worlds best Grey Partridge photo but it's not often you'd see one flying along the beach, this was just seaward of Ferryden
A covey of about nine were "hiding" in a ploughed field near Mains of Usan
Hooded Crow at the Ythan Estuary feeding on what looks like a small gull, it was loath to leave the gull and let me get closer than I expected. Is it a true Hoodie, just a bit dark or a hybrid, and how much is the colour distorted?
Jackdaw, common on the beaches in Angus
An urban Jackdaw at Keptie Pond in Arbroath where they've become accepting of the public walking by or sitting on the picnic benches
An autumn Jay caching acorns at Balgavies Loch
A bit wet looking this Jay in Montreathmont Forest, I recall it was a miserable day, during a miserable year
Seen at Edzell Castle many years ago
And the white version at Scone Palace
A cock Pheasant flying from a pen area where they are released prior to the shooting season
This one was on the ice at a frozen Loch of Kinnordy
The female of the pheasant species, no flash plumage just suitable camouflage
One of the adult Ravens at St Cyrus NNR
One of the 700,000 Red Grouse (male) that will be shot each year for fun, would you eat a bird shot with toxic lead
Will this Red Grouse chick make it to its first winter?
Despite millions of these Red-legged Partridges being released into the wild each year they're not often seen unless in a shooting area, where there can be hundreds. It used to be called hunting, now it's shooting semi-tame reared birds
A Rook at Usan which was one of many caching pine cones which you can see are still green
Rooks and Jackdaws with a few Magpies are almost always seen at Murton NR where this Rook posed on the car park fence
A Stock Dove, surely one of the more subtle members of the Pigeons, this one was at the lower end of the Craigmill Den path
Another Stock Dove near Craigmill showing the distinctive black markings
A juvenile Stock Dove in the coastal field at Hatton, north of East Haven
Just as I got the car window down at Mains of Usan another car drove past me and flushed this Turtle Dove, a few years ago now. I checked it was 2014
Probably the oldest photo here and maybe even on this blog, this white cock pheasant was at Loch of Kinnordy in 2010. I must have had my ancient Sony bridge camera then with a 12 times zoom - wow
Along with Goldfinches these Woodpigeons are showing the biggest increase in population, due to both species readily coming into gardens
They even come into my step-daughters garden despite two dogs, mind you one is lazy and the other a pup has yet to show if she's inclined to bark at and chase birds. I'm not allowed to say anything about them as "they're cute", I don't look forward to a world where only the cute is protected and preserved, then everything will be cute and then normal