One of the great thing about Galway City is how green it is. I mean that literally – despite a decade of non-stop building, there are lots of greenery, woodland and grassy areas within the city limits. Menlo Woods is a great spot at this time of year, and last Saturday, I went out there for a couple of hours, just stood in more or less in the one spot and just watched (and occasionally photographed) whatever strolled or flew by.
This pheasant was in a meadow by the woods and spent most of his time [out of sight] marking his territory by squawking and flapping his wings. When I took the picture above, he could near the click of the camera but couldn’t quite figure out what was causing it. Note the two flaps of feathers that look like ears in the bottom picture – I’ve never noticed that on a pheasant below.