Author Topic: Bird watch  (Read 278972 times)

Offline jillcwhomever

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2880 on: May 15, 2022, 09:53:42 pm »
A Woodpecker was pecking at one of my bird boxes which has chicks in. I've never seen anything like it to be honest. Would it be just pecking the wood for grubs or would it be after the chicks?

I have heard that woodpeckers can go for chicks, I think I saw it on one Spring Watch. So I fear, it will be for the poor chicks. I hope they are all okay.

I found a hedgehog in among my bird feed today. He was sleeping in between all the tins of food, I don't know who had the bigger shock him or me.  ;D
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Offline John C

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2881 on: May 15, 2022, 10:03:03 pm »
I makes sense why the most recent bird box I bought had a metal ring round the hole. Never seen that before.

Offline Son of Spion

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2882 on: May 15, 2022, 11:21:05 pm »
A Woodpecker was pecking at one of my bird boxes which has chicks in. I've never seen anything like it to be honest. Would it be just pecking the wood for grubs or would it be after the chicks?
As others have said, it will have been after the chicks. They will clear a whole nest of chicks if given the chance.  :-\

Those metal plates or rings around nest box holes are to stop them, other birds and squirrels predating.  You can buy them online.

I notice lots of nest boxes in the Sefton Park area have had their holes greatly enlarged by other birds and squirrels trying to get in.
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Offline jillcwhomever

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2883 on: May 27, 2022, 10:53:38 am »
Anyone else getting loads of baby birds in the garden yet? I have tons of fluffy baby sparrows on the fence at present begging for food from their over worked parents. It's all very cute.  ;D

Less cute. Anyone read the story on twitter that Westminster Council have actually put spikes into trees to stop birds from landing in them? What the hell is the matter with the human race, that they think they have the right to deter birds from their natural habitat?  :no
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2884 on: May 27, 2022, 11:18:28 am »
Anyone else getting loads of baby birds in the garden yet? I have tons of fluffy baby sparrows on the fence at present begging for food from their over worked parents. It's all very cute.  ;D

Less cute. Anyone read the story on twitter that Westminster Council have actually put spikes into trees to stop birds from landing in them? What the hell is the matter with the human race, that they think they have the right to deter birds from their natural habitat?  :no
We have hordes of baby Starlings at the moment. Unfortunately, the Sparrowhawk had one last weekend. These little fellas are as mad as a box of frogs. Ambling around the lawn squarking their heads off. Loads having a bath in the pond too.

They've learned that if they all sit on the Heron net together, their weight makes the net sag into the water, so they can all bathe. 😂

The Collared Dove's nest in the tree wasn't a success. 🫤
Something, possibly a Magpie, took the eggs out of the best. I found two on the floor. One intact, but the other broken. There's no way it could have got to where I found it unless it had been removed and carried. The Doves have been back and took the twigs from the nest. No doubt trying again nearby. Hopefully they are successful there.

Westminster Council? I'd like to put some spikes under them.  ::)
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Offline jillcwhomever

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2885 on: May 27, 2022, 11:33:59 am »
We have hordes of baby Starlings at the moment. Unfortunately, the Sparrowhawk had one last weekend. These little fellas are as mad as a box of frogs. Ambling around the lawn squarking their heads off. Loads having a bath in the pond too.

They've learned that if they all sit on the Heron net together, their weight makes the net sag into the water, so they can all bathe. 😂

The Collared Dove's nest in the tree wasn't a success. 🫤
Something, possibly a Magpie, took the eggs out of the best. I found two on the floor. One intact, but the other broken. There's no way it could have got to where I found it unless it had been removed and carried. The Doves have been back and took the twigs from the nest. No doubt trying again nearby. Hopefully they are successful there.

Westminster Council? I'd like to put some spikes under them.  ::)

Some mixed stories there, as ever in nature.

I love Starlings they really are very intelligent if very noisy as well. It can be funny when there are a few young ones together, they don't seem to have any awareness at all about danger which means you can actually watch them in the open. That net story is fantastic and just shows having a few together can lead to them learning that much quicker. The Sparrows I have are in to everything, including trying to go through a hole in my fence, which I am not appreciating. Stop costing me money birds.  ;D

Unlucky about the Doves, I'm sure they will try again though. The number of magpies around are a clear sign of danger for all the birds. They are very intelligent but also really brutal as well.
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Offline Son of Spion

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2886 on: May 27, 2022, 12:23:34 pm »
Some mixed stories there, as ever in nature.

I love Starlings they really are very intelligent if very noisy as well. It can be funny when there are a few young ones together, they don't seem to have any awareness at all about danger which means you can actually watch them in the open. That net story is fantastic and just shows having a few together can lead to them learning that much quicker. The Sparrows I have are in to everything, including trying to go through a hole in my fence, which I am not appreciating. Stop costing me money birds.  ;D

Unlucky about the Doves, I'm sure they will try again though. The number of magpies around are a clear sign of danger for all the birds. They are very intelligent but also really brutal as well.
Yes, nature is compelling viewing, but a mixed bag too. There's always a tragedy lurking.

The Starlings are quite fascinating to watch. When not long out of the nest they, as you said, are oblivious to danger. They bumble around like toddlers. They learn pretty quickly though.

We have a fountain under the net on the pond. It sort of falls in a dome-shape into the water. Anyway, initially the baby Starlings were trying to get a drink from it and a bath in it but couldn't workout how. Just days later they worked out how to do it. So they now know how to get both a bath and a shower. 😂

I've got to do some woodwork in the garden this afternoon, so I'll enjoy watching them all. Recently I was serenaded by a Goldfinch that was singing its head off on the chimney stack. That was lovely.

Your Spadgers sound adorable. 🤗 They are great little birds. Criminally under appreciated when they were very common. I'm glad they've made a strong comeback now, because for some years you just wouldn't see any at all.

It's strange how things change. Kestrels used to be very common, but I don't see many now. I never saw a Sparrowhawk as a kid, but they are everywhere now. I had one grab a Starling while I sat a few feet away in the garden not so long ago. Right in front of me on the lawn. 🫣
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2887 on: May 27, 2022, 12:50:27 pm »
Got tons of little birds in the garden.

The usual doves and wood pigeons for their daily nosh.

Loads of little starlings, tits, robins and my favourite - the blackbirds

They have so much personality and are dead cute they often fly up to me and look at me as if to say "Get the fucking birdseed out, fatty!"

:)
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Offline Son of Spion

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2888 on: May 27, 2022, 12:59:46 pm »
^
A Blacky was almost my first roadkill this morning. 🫣

He flew right across me as I was doing 40mph. I was so glad he managed to evade me. 🤗

Lucky fella though.
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Offline rob1966

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2889 on: May 27, 2022, 04:46:42 pm »
^
A Blacky was almost my first roadkill this morning. 🫣

He flew right across me as I was doing 40mph. I was so glad he managed to evade me. 🤗

Lucky fella though.

I've wiped out so many Wood Pigeons over the years in the truck, the usually smash into the roof or bounce off the windscreen, make a hell of a thud when you hit them. Luckily I've not hit a Raptor yet (touch wood), I'd hate to kill one of those.

I used to know a fella back in the 90's who hit a pheasant near Hillside on his way to work on his new bike, the bird did about £1500 worth of damage to the fairings, smashed the side of it. He sent one of his lads to go retrieve the bird and they had it for tea ;D
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2890 on: May 27, 2022, 05:59:42 pm »
I've wiped out so many Wood Pigeons over the years in the truck, the usually smash into the roof or bounce off the windscreen, make a hell of a thud when you hit them. Luckily I've not hit a Raptor yet (touch wood), I'd hate to kill one of those.

I used to know a fella back in the 90's who hit a pheasant near Hillside on his way to work on his new bike, the bird did about £1500 worth of damage to the fairings, smashed the side of it. He sent one of his lads to go retrieve the bird and they had it for tea ;D
Thankfully, I've not hit a bird in all my years driving. I was in a car with my cousin driving once, and a Woody his his windscreen in Maghull.  A big puff of feathers all over the place. 🫤

Pheasants? You don't want to hit one of them. They are daft as a brush. Driving in Wales recently there were loads of them on grass verges just ambling about. No wonder so many get hit. My dad used work with a fella whose girlfriend had a pheasant fly straight into her car through the window as she was driving. It scared the living daylights out of her.

On a different note, I just came back out into the garden as a Sparrowhawk tried to swipe a young Starling out of the tree. I think it would have had it only I walked out at the crucial moment.
The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long, and you've burned so very, very brightly, Jürgen.

Offline jillcwhomever

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2891 on: May 27, 2022, 06:02:01 pm »
I just have baby birds bouncing off my window at the moment. Sometimes I'd swear it was the same one each time.
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2892 on: May 27, 2022, 07:35:49 pm »
Not seen any babies yet but we've had song thrush nesting somewhere nearby.  The parents are always in the garden looking for snails and the blue tits are in and out of the box every few seconds.

We've got several sparrows nesting in the conservatory roof but no young have appeared yet.

Offline Armand9

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2893 on: May 31, 2022, 04:13:32 pm »
It's strange how things change. Kestrels used to be very common, but I don't see many now. I never saw a Sparrowhawk as a kid, but they are everywhere now. I had one grab a Starling while I sat a few feet away in the garden not so long ago. Right in front of me on the lawn.

sometimes what seems intuitive doesn't really tell the true story

simple example - species X is a rare bird, tho still rare we're recording more now than before so they're becoming more 'common'; probably not the case, there are many more birdwatchers with greater knowledge, better optics and better identification guides than ever in the british public (add in photogs who post pics on social media as 'interesting' not uncommonly now resulting in rare birds being identified from non birdwatching interactions). obviously if a rare bird increases markedly in numbers being recorded, that's a different matter - little egret a rare bird a few decades ago is now a common bird in the uk, genuine increase clearly to the point of colonisation of the uk.

a bit longwinded, granted, but demonstrates that trends in bird populations aren't always straightforward and doesn't always reflect anecdotal evidence

however, with kestrels we have no such problem in knowing whether the decline is genuine or a false positive - due to being the only raptor we have that commonly hunts with a true hover (others partial-hover casually but not consistently), being identified is usually straightforward even for a novice, while being largely exposed in their hunting technique also adds to confidence in knowing birds are present or not. there is a real decline, two obvious reasons are food source and nesting choice. they rely largely on voles and as habitat for voles decrease it's no surprise it has an impact on kestrels. being cavity nesters, the decline in numbers of trees (especially old trees) to provide those cavities again has an obvious impact on the species - they will use buildings as well but the type they're likely to use has also declined (nesting box projects is helping in this regard).

sparrowhawks are an interesting case that is somewhat linked to my opening paragraph. sparrowhawks happily hunt suburbia and so with the expansion of housing and the decline of woodland, we see more cos they hunt in our domain more regularly.  they also hunt birds almost exclusively so fluctuations in vole populations (which seem to occur naturally as well as environmentally) doesn't curtail their numbers, whereas kestrels are tied to voles. they dont have a problem nesting as all they need is trees of a modest height with enough branches to allow them to lay down sticks for a platform.

raptors in general were being decimated by DDT in the 60s, if we look beyond that period when DDT was banned: both species had a big increase in population from 1970 onwards and both have declined again since 1995-2000 onwards. However, the population of the sparrowhawk is still double that pre 1970, whereas the kestrel has declined to numbers that are actually lower than pre 1970.

that is a very basic overview of the two species and reasons for population trends. for those who dont know, every year birdwatchers all over the uk do yearly quadrant work where they record every species seen or heard in the quadrant that specific birdwatcher has been assigned. from that information yearly information of bird populations for every species is collated. this gets published in journals and periodically decades defining information is published in a Bird Atlas' for britain.

eg




Startled a woodpecker as I came out of my house yesterday. Flew out of the hedge and across the road but saw a flash of yellowy/green and a red cap so had to be a woodpecker I think.

sounds perfect for green woodpecker (if in uk), our largest woodpecker

« Last Edit: May 31, 2022, 09:20:07 pm by Armand9 »
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2894 on: May 31, 2022, 05:31:18 pm »
Catching up on the thread. What a great story about Spadge.

Many years ago, arriving in Cornwall, we discovered a swallow in the house. No injuries or anything, and a complete mystery how it got in. The poor bird was in a complete state of panic. It wasn't able to leave via the open windows for some reason so I ended up trapping it in a large saucepan with a towel over the top and carrying it out into the garden and liberty. This was not easy. It took about 2 hours. One good thing. I've never been so close to a swallow before. The colours! Incredible.

Where we live now (in Oxford) is a magnet for swifts. Not sure why except maybe the eaves of many of the houses are good for nests. They arrived May 15th I think and just swoop down in their scores late in the afternoon and evening. They're probably my favourite bird.
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Offline Armand9

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2895 on: May 31, 2022, 08:05:37 pm »
Catching up on the thread. What a great story about Spadge.

Many years ago, arriving in Cornwall, we discovered a swallow in the house. No injuries or anything, and a complete mystery how it got in. The poor bird was in a complete state of panic. It wasn't able to leave via the open windows for some reason so I ended up trapping it in a large saucepan with a towel over the top and carrying it out into the garden and liberty. This was not easy. It took about 2 hours. One good thing. I've never been so close to a swallow before. The colours! Incredible.

Where we live now (in Oxford) is a magnet for swifts. Not sure why except maybe the eaves of many of the houses are good for nests. They arrived May 15th I think and just swoop down in their scores late in the afternoon and evening. They're probably my favourite bird.

is the correct answer

swifts were originally mountain birds and still are in some places but nesting opportunities via housing brought them into cities/towns
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Offline Yorkykopite

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2896 on: May 31, 2022, 08:41:24 pm »
is the correct answer

swifts were originally mountain birds and still are in some places but nesting opportunities via housing brought them into cities/towns

I didn't know that. Thank you. It instinctively feels right.

I was told by a German friend many years ago that the German name for Swift is 'Wall Sailor'. I love that too.
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Offline Armand9

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2897 on: May 31, 2022, 11:42:39 pm »
makes total sense and lyrical with it, much is made of swifts eating, sleeping and even mating on the wing and while that is true, most species roost overnight clinging to walls and nest on walls/cliffs in and outside of caves (when not using manmade structures)

a celebrated spectacle in the US is of Vaux's Swfits streaming at dusk into traditional roosting sites as numbers build up preparing for the autumn migration to SA

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/gHgEAIK8P18" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/gHgEAIK8P18</a>


was also known in england as the 'devil bird' a couple of hundred years ago, which i like, due to being all dark, screeching calls and appearing ahead of bad weather (bit of mixture this but poor weather that is flowing directionally, eg E to W, will push insects out of that area and the swifts follow them, so 'arrive' into the new area ahead of the following bad weather about to hit. also in poor weather swifts drop altitude, again following the insects and are therefore easy to see, in very good weather they're still there but so high up they're not easy to see find even with bins). During the autumn build up for migration there can be up to 10,000 swifts feeding over my local lake in bad weather, on cloudless sunny days in the same period you struggle to see any - too high.

xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/BRUWNFYXQF/XC724477-Martinet%20noir%20Cris%20en%20vol%20Centre%20bour%20M%C3%BBr%20de%20Bretagne.mp3
« Last Edit: June 1, 2022, 12:07:50 am by Armand9 »
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2898 on: June 1, 2022, 09:31:29 am »
Magnificent.
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2899 on: June 1, 2022, 08:49:56 pm »
Some great in-depth replies there, Armand9.

Thanks. 😎👍
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2900 on: June 2, 2022, 08:43:32 pm »


<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/gHgEAIK8P18" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/gHgEAIK8P18</a>


Love the Chapman Elementary Chimney in September.    :thumbup

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2901 on: June 2, 2022, 10:42:48 pm »
Some great in-depth replies there, Armand9.

Thanks. 😎👍

you're welcome, i've been birding for over 40 years so you pick some stuff up on the way  :)

i used to twitch (going for rare birds in the uk) a lot at times but haven't much over the last decade but i did a fair bit last year as a palliative after all the covid restrictions, and i finally got to see the best bird i've ever seen

for me an albatross is the ultimate bird, all albatross live in the southern oceans, so chances of seeing one in the northern hemisphere are next to nothing outside of a returning black-browed albatross many moons ago that for over 20 years returned each summer to a gannet colony on a far flung island in scotland called hermaness (a trip i was never going to do due to logistics).

so when a black-browed albatross turned up on mainland england in the gannet colony at bempton cliffs in yorkshire last year i finally thought here's my chance, literally the chance of a lifetime as there's no way i'm going to be travelling to the parts of the world that albatross inhabit

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/fdnFOTsQ-8s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/fdnFOTsQ-8s</a>
(not my footage, there's tons of it on youtube, it's returned this year and is considered a celebrity  ;D)

to get some idea of its size, the bird in the vid mobbing it is a herring gull, basically your local large gull but as you see it is dwarfed by the BBA. and to think this isn't one of the 'big' albatross', ones such as a royal albatross would dwarf the BBA (you may remember attenborough sat next to a humongous albatross in one of his documentaries, iirc that was a royal)

as the vid shows they are masters at using air currents and it was a thrill to spend the day at bempton watching this glorious bird throughout the day
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2902 on: June 3, 2022, 12:13:56 am »
^
That's some bird, Armand. I'm glad you got to see it.

I'll have to ask my brother if he's ever seen one. I doubt it but, like yourself, he's been bird watching for decades. If any rarities come in he gets a call and shoots off all over the country with his mate to see if he can spot them.

I think I remember that Attenborough piece with the Albatross.

Birds are great. I love them.
The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long, and you've burned so very, very brightly, Jürgen.

Offline Armand9

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2903 on: June 3, 2022, 03:52:02 am »
^
That's some bird, Armand. I'm glad you got to see it.

I'll have to ask my brother if he's ever seen one. I doubt it but, like yourself, he's been bird watching for decades. If any rarities come in he gets a call and shoots off all over the country with his mate to see if he can spot them.

I think I remember that Attenborough piece with the Albatross.

Birds are great. I love them.

so your brother is a twitcher as well then

i'd be stunned if he didn't go to see it last year like i did, i think every twitcher with the health and finances to do so went to see that bird  ;D
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2904 on: June 3, 2022, 09:37:25 am »
How does an albatross end up that far away from home? I know they can fly a huge distance but that’s pretty lost isn’t it?!

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2905 on: June 3, 2022, 11:00:00 am »
so your brother is a twitcher as well then

i'd be stunned if he didn't go to see it last year like i did, i think every twitcher with the health and finances to do so went to see that bird  ;D
He is, yes.

He's been writing a book on his bird-watching escapades for a few years now.

He's away just now, but I'll ask him about the Albatross when he gets back.
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2906 on: June 3, 2022, 06:16:11 pm »
How does an albatross end up that far away from home? I know they can fly a huge distance but that’s pretty lost isn’t it?!

vagrancy (ie birds straying way beyond their normal range) in birds is pretty complicated because there are a number of factors that can cause it we are certain of but many we speculate about and are still investigating. the most basic requirement is that a bird is a migrant, that is it lives in one area when it breeds and another area outside of breeding, or at the very least wandering large distances is part of its normal behaviour*. sedentary birds dont really feature as vagrants as they stay local all year round.

*an albatross typically takes seven years to mature to breeding age (a bit less in smaller species, a bit longer in bigger species) and for much of that time wanders the southern oceans covering huge distances not 'anchored' to a specific place

the two easiest ones to explain are:

1. reverse migration - in short, a bird goes the opposite way to what it was supposed to do when it migrates and as most vargrants are juvenile birds, it's their first migration to the non-breeding region and note that many migrant species don't migrant with the adults, they're literally winging it  ;D - there are many varied and suggested reasons why this actually happens, some we have confidence, others that are conjecture

2. weather conditions - on a more local level birds get storm driven, so turn up where they shouldn't (eg seabirds turn up inland) but looking wider at vagrant birds, some it seems are shifted outside of their known region and dont re-orientate and 'wander' and are genuinely lost - this would fit the albatross, tho there could be other explanations or a mixture of reasons

as an aside, the one that really cooks my brain is altitude migrants. in britain an Alpine Accentor is a very rare bird but you'd think we shouldn't ever get one. as its name denotes, it is a bird of the alpine regions above the tree line (a mountain bird) so stays local to its area all year round. BUT it does migrate - in the breeding season it lives at high altitude but in the winter lives at lower altitudes.

So it 'migrates' from the bottom to the top of a mountain and back down again. That's it, nothing more. Yet there are about 20 accepted records of alpine accentor in the uk! And i fucking dipped one of the last ones  ;D (dipped means you went to see it but it had buggered off). I can't get my head around that one, cos iirc the records are most (if not all) of adult birds, so what fucking happened while it simply had to go back up the mountain but ended up coming to the uk? Bizarre.

Bird migration is one of the biggest draws into the fascinating world of birds for many birders - i love sitting on a cornish headland watching a sooty shearwater go past and think in three weeks time it will be off the coast of argentina. But that's just a little taste of it, there are volumns of amazing facts, figures and 'are you fucking kidding me' revelations when it comes to bird migration.
« Last Edit: June 3, 2022, 11:04:34 pm by Armand9 »
Losing your only chance of silverware this season to your city rival. At home. With the most expensive squad ever assembled.

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2907 on: June 5, 2022, 01:08:00 am »
After saying recently that I don't see many Kestrels about these days, I see one hovering on the Dock Road this evening at the Bootle end.
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2908 on: June 5, 2022, 01:35:23 am »
Saw a peregrine falcon dive bombing prey over my neighbor’s home today. We have some nearby bluffs on the Mississippi where they nest, but they don’t usually venture out of the river valley into the neighborhoods. Goddam that bird could move!

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2909 on: June 9, 2022, 07:26:36 am »
We've had a male greenfinch on the feeders the last couple of days which is quite a rare occurrence now unfortunately 😔

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2910 on: June 9, 2022, 02:17:21 pm »
Saw a pair of large Birds of Prey daily over our place while in Crete last week - white under the wings with black on the outsides - I think they were Buzzards. Never see them taking anything, they always just seemed to spend the tome soaring.

Saw a Kestrel dive behind the houses opposite ours the other week, will have been a mouse it was after, loads around here
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2911 on: June 9, 2022, 02:23:58 pm »
Just a few visitors today.






Offline Armand9

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2912 on: June 10, 2022, 12:52:31 am »
Saw a pair of large Birds of Prey daily over our place while in Crete last week - white under the wings with black on the outsides - I think they were Buzzards. Never see them taking anything, they always just seemed to spend the tome soaring.

Saw a Kestrel dive behind the houses opposite ours the other week, will have been a mouse it was after, loads around here

if you know buzzards well and are confident, your description doesn't rule out common buzzards and you could well be on the money

tho being in crete you do have quite a number of options that wouldn't come into consideration in the uk (outside of being a mega rarity)

because 'white under the wings with black on the outsides' isn't the most obvious description of the underside of a buzzard and is somewhat vague in birding terms, it did make me think of a pale phase booted eagle (if they were buzzard size, determining size can be tricky depending on circumstances), depending on what you mean by 'black on the outsides'

pale phase booted eagle (there are better pics on the net but chose one that isn't amazing cos we rarely see soaring raptors that way)


they are variable and like with buzzards and other birds, a picture may not match exactly what you saw but if the underside of the wings match the pic regarding the fore area is all white and trailing area is all black AND the birds were buzzard size - only booted eagle match that (pale phase)

but as you say, matches common buzzard also depending on the meaning of 'black outsides' and their extent (buzzard variety is quite incredible, so could easily have birds much whiter than the bird below but the dark edging on the trailing edge of the wings is pretty consistent (can be thicker but doesn't approach booted eagle in extent)



there are further options (eg honey buzzard) but the two already mentioned are most likely
« Last Edit: June 10, 2022, 01:12:38 am by Armand9 »
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2913 on: June 10, 2022, 08:08:43 am »
Cheers

I see lots of Buzzards while out driving and we have a pair near us, so quite familiar with the UK birds, and it did look like a Buzzard but it was the colours that threw me. These had black tips on the feathers all the way around the wings, in quite a visible band and were bright white in the centre of the wings. The crows were chasing them and they were bigger than the crows, I'd say the size difference was pretty much what you see when you see a crow and a Buzzard at home.
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2914 on: June 10, 2022, 10:39:44 am »
a pale honey buzzard fits that description, another very variable species but some examples below that match





honey buzzards dont typically soar on heavily V wings like common buzzards, they normally soar on flat wings



you can get a similar effect on pale common buzzards but it's not as sharp as on honey buzzards (and as i said before, much less in extent than booted eagle)




as you know buzzards very well, if it was nothing but the plumage that threw you, buzzard can match what you said, just would be very pale type birds involved - which in  my part of the uk, the west country, we get a fair few - some people not used to seeing them commonly mistake them for osprey over my local patch, which is a lake

also if you were seeing them daily they sound like resident birds, whereas i imagine honey buzzard are a migrant in crete
« Last Edit: June 10, 2022, 10:55:13 am by Armand9 »
Losing your only chance of silverware this season to your city rival. At home. With the most expensive squad ever assembled.

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2915 on: June 10, 2022, 01:18:58 pm »
Armand, you seem like you know your stuff, see if you can help me identify a bird by its call that's been bugging me for a while. I know plenty by sight but don't know that many by call. The last few years I've heard this monotone 'toot-toot-toot' whistle. Pretty much always in three bursts but I think occasionally in four. When I first heard it I thought a kid was messing around with a whistle, so take that as a description of the tone. I've got a feeling on a couple it might be as a variation on their more typical calls, but I'll leave it with you to see if you know what it is. I live on the edge of town near to woodland, farmland and lakes/ponds/canal if that helps.

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2916 on: June 10, 2022, 02:45:57 pm »
what part of the world do you live in?

cos something came to mind immediately but not if you live in the uk
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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2917 on: June 10, 2022, 03:56:10 pm »
Cheers Armand for the replies. I've Googled after what you said and I'm now pretty certain it was a booted Eagle I saw, the dark and white areas on the plumage more match the pictures I've seen of the Eagle.



Jurgen, you made us laugh, you made us cry, you made Liverpool a bastion of invincibilty, now leave us on a high - YNWA

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2918 on: June 10, 2022, 03:59:42 pm »
No, no, nothing foreign or exotic, right here.

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Re: Bird watch
« Reply #2919 on: June 10, 2022, 08:37:37 pm »
i have some candidates but narrowing it down would be really helpful, esp as you live near - woodland, farmland, a lake, ponds, a canal, that's a lot of bird options habitat wise

1. are you're hearing it over a bit of distance from your house, or are you out walking the various habitats when hearing this? i'm trying to get an idea how loud this call is (some i can think of can carry over distance, others wouldn't)

2. do you hear this all year round or at specific seasons, like summer or winter?

3. do you hear it at a specific time of day, night/day? or is various times

4. what area of the country do you live in (eg SW, NE etc), region can eliminate a fair few while other regions will narrow down what it could be extremely (eg if you lived in NW scotland)

by your description alone the first uk bird that came to mind is a nuthatch - a woodland bird, pretty and a cool bird too

https://xeno-canto.org/726454 (just hit the play button)
« Last Edit: June 10, 2022, 08:40:37 pm by Armand9 »
Losing your only chance of silverware this season to your city rival. At home. With the most expensive squad ever assembled.

Have that, you arrogant wanker. CarraG238