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Bird of the day

60K views 625 replies 56 participants last post by  ohanzee 
#1 ·
Plenty of time kill so how about a bird per day thread? What you can see in your garden or on your walk. To kick off here's one from the dog walk.
Water Water resources Ecoregion Plant Natural environment

Could have pictured a male hen harrier today, but only had seconds to get a shot.
 
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#8 ·
The woodpigeon population has exploded in Cardiff, I'm seriously thinking about devising a way to trap them to stop them from stripping my cherry tree again, all suggestions gratefully accepted, shooting's out. Quite a few ducks and cormorants flying over Cardiff and, like 4W saw a sparrowhawk twice on Sunday

A minor diversion, goat of the day. Wondered why on earth Llandudno was trending, yet another feature of lockdown -



 
#10 · (Edited)
What I might see going round the city cycle path, taking in part of the Water of Leith walkway...

Redwings (last of them still around)
Blackbirds
Song thrushes (numbers seem to be recovering)
Robins
Wrens
House sparrows
Dunnocks
Blue tits
Great tits
Long-tailed tits
Treecreepers
Black caps
Grey wagtails
Pied/white wagtails
Mallards
Swans
Moorhens
Goosanders
Herons
Kingfishers
Chaffinches
Bullfinches
Goldfinches
Magpies
Carrion crows
Woodpigeons (probably more of them than anything else)
Herring gulls
Lesser black-back gulls
Black-headed gulls
Curlews (currently occupying the rugby pitches)
Oystercatchers (also on the rugby pitches)
Kestrel
Sparrowhawk

After they arrive, I hear warblers such as willow warbler and chiff-chaff, but I rarely get a good look at them. I also hear a tawny owl from time to time. I don't see peregrines on the cycle path, but I can sometimes see them if I go down and round the back of Asda's car park...



Col
 
#11 ·
What I might see going round the city cycle path, taking in part of the Water of Leith walkway...

Redwings (last of them still around)
Blackbirds
Song thrushes (numbers seem to be recovering)
Robins
Wrens
House sparrows
Blue tits
Great tits
Long-tailed tits
Treecreepers
Black caps
Grey wagtails
Pied/white wagtails
Mallards
Swans
Moorhens
Goosanders
Herons
Chaffinches
Bullfinches
Goldfinches
Magpies
Carrion crows
Woodpigeons (probably more of them than anything else)
Herring gulls
Lesser black-back gulls
Black-headed gulls
Curlews (currently occupying the rugby pitches)
Kestrel
Sparrowhawk

After they arrive, I hear warblers such as willow warbler and chiff-chaff, but I rarely get a good look at them. I also hear a tawny owl from time to time. I don't see peregrines on the cycle path, but I can sometimes see them if I go down and round the back of Asda's car park...



Col
No peregrines round the back of our Asda Col. A few hoodies..( not crows ) :)

B
 
#21 ·
Having a cuppa up the lotty earlier today and, presumably, the hawk I saw the other day took out a woodpigeon about a hundred feet from me. I was able to get half that distance from it and took a shot on the phone.
Having very little else pressing on my time for the next six months or so I had the leisure of watching it take its prey apart for twenty minutes. Passers by on the pavement beyond the hedge would make it pause momentarily or pull the corpse close to a tree but most of its work was in plain view on the path which connects the plots. It was interesting to see how normal service resumed, some sparrows and tits flew into the hedge totally unconcerned with the predator engaged not three feet below them.
One of my mates was doing some work on his so I called him down to take a look too, that took another ten minutes, all told it was eating for a good half hour plus.
Had a look at the pigeon when its nemesis flew off, the breast was not even half eaten, wondered whether the bird would return later on. Assumed it was a sparrowhawk - expect to see this photo in the Countryfile calendar..... the hawk appears to overbalancing on a skateboard

hawk.jpg
 
#22 ·
We have a Great Tit nesting in one of the boxes, it is coming down and taking beakfuls of coconut fibers from the patio doormat.
Feeders covered with Gold Finches, House Sparrows are all over the fat balls and a Magpie is chiselling lumps off the balls and taking them away.
Two Hedgehogs decided to billet on us and live in a box under the back porch and trundle around the garden at night. No bats as yet.
 
#25 ·
Not the greatest photo's but a week or so of lockdown and...after sweeping out a barn...if you look at the floor in centre of the pic, some debris..look up to halfway up the wall and there is a hole? something was building a nest..

Brown Wood Road surface Floor Flooring


And the house builders were in.....

Brown Wood Road surface Tints and shades Art


Strangely tame, I went right up to this one bout a foot away......

Brown Tints and shades Road surface Flooring Pattern


Felt bad closing up their nest site but better to move them on now before they move in.
 
#34 ·
Not the greatest photo's but a week or so of lockdown and...after sweeping out a barn...if you look at the floor in centre of the pic, some debris..look up to halfway up the wall and there is a hole? something was building a nest..

View attachment 24261

And the house builders were in.....

View attachment 24262

Strangely tame, I went right up to this one bout a foot away......

View attachment 24263

Felt bad closing up their nest site but better to move them on now before they move in.
I thought it might be a Wren, I have seen them nest in some peculiar places, including a grapefruit sized, used, wasps nest.
 
#27 ·
Got some sea eagle pics on the external drive, will dig them out tomorrow, if I can find them. Wonder if the Grafham one was from Isle of Wight? Or have they done a crafty release elsewhere? Norfolk?

Anyway the weather was so bad today with severe wind and heavy snow at times it was an effort to get the camera out. This ones from the back door.
Bird Beak Grass Grassland Grass family
 
#32 ·
What are you arty types like, I just see a slightly out of focus mess!

Going back to the White Tailed Eagles for a minute.
We used to see them a lot on Uist, daily at some times of the year. In the spring of 2018 we were out on the low rocky point that sticks out into the sea beyond Bornish. A mother and cub otter came by and pulled out onto the rocks.



We watched them for a bit and then left them in peace but as when we were about 100 yards away a young WTE came over and dived down in the general area and then perched on the trig point. As it seemed pretty settled we went back for a closer look and it took off and did a couple of low circuits over us (two people and three dogs, who says you need to hide away to see wildlife close up?). Low enough to get a couple of indifferent but interesting shots.

That is otter fur from a near miss (for the eagle) in the beak!



And enough of the leg ring was visible to get an ID from the RSPB



It was a young male bird fledged the previous year from Ord on Skye. The RSPB commented that they almost never get info back from leg rings on live eagles...

Andy
 
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