Topic: Bird watch

[Bob Kurac]

And no doubt about it - that was my response to the initial post before reading all the subsequent discussion. Quite a range of underwing patterning exists, but there's no doubt about that bird from the original photo.

For the benefit of Americans, a buzzard here is a hawk to you - closely resembling and related to, say, red-tailed hawk. Your buzzard is the turkey vulture, is it not? Anyway, confusion between the way "buzzard" is used here for Buteo buteo and how it's used the the USA is something I've encountered previously.

[Mal]

First thing I see as I open the curtains this morning a bobbing streak of green with a red flash. Lands on the tree bang opposite my gaff. Green woodpecker. Nice way to start the day.

[damian]

First thing I see as I open the curtains this morning a bobbing streak of green with a red flash. Lands on the tree bang opposite my gaff. Green woodpecker. Nice way to start the day.

That's the next thing I want to get a picture of. Saw a couple many years ago when I had a camera with a zoom worse than my own eyesight and about 0.000001 megapixels. Never seen any since.

I've been waiting a very long time to be able to get close enough to a Heron to get some decent shots - the closest I've managed is the pics on the previous page. However, to my surprise whilst walking around the park local to where I work yesterday, there was one right in front of me on a small island on the lake. Unfortunately there were trees in the way, but managed to get a few shots (which I also posted in the Best Photo thread, but I've put below as more relevant to this thread).

[Tsar Kastik]

This 9 minute video from Channel 4 last might. Meanwhile around by me they're cutting down healthy trees and bushes.

http://www.channel4.com/news/green-pleasant-land-british-countryside-nature-crisis

[theredguy03]

Saw a Goldfinch in my garden for the very first time 

[Lad]

Was visiting friends down in Tilgate forest in Sussex last Autumn we hired a rowing boat on the lake to keep the kids happy. About 30 yards away from us this huge bird of prey swooped down and took a fish.

I said jokingly to the misses that it looked like an Osprey but it couldn't be as we are in Sussex. Then it came back circling above us and bugger me it WAS an Osprey.

We got out the boat and got talking to a couple with binocs and they were as amazed as us. We watched it hunt for fish for a while before it went off.

Most amazing sight ever for me a life long spotter. Read up on some sights later and it had been hanging round for a few days on its migration from the Lakes or Scotland back to Africa.

[Lad]

Saw a Goldfinch in my garden for the very first time 

Get yourself a Niger seed feeder and said seed and you'll get loads. The slits which the feed is accessible from are really narrow and the Goldfinches are the only birds that will use it.

I put one up a few years ago and within a few days they started using it. Downside is it will cost you a few bob as they go through tons of it !!!

[BCCC]

Get yourself a Niger seed feeder and said seed and you'll get loads. The slits which the feed is accessible from are really narrow and the Goldfinches are the only birds that will use it.

I put one up a few years ago and within a few days they started using it. Downside is it will cost you a few bob as they go through tons of it !!!

They also love sunflower hearts.

[damian]

Was visiting friends down in Tilgate forest in Sussex last Autumn we hired a rowing boat on the lake to keep the kids happy. About 30 yards away from us this huge bird of prey swooped down and took a fish.

I said jokingly to the misses that it looked like an Osprey but it couldn't be as we are in Sussex. Then it came back circling above us and bugger me it WAS an Osprey.

We got out the boat and got talking to a couple with binocs and they were as amazed as us. We watched it hunt for fish for a while before it went off.

Most amazing sight ever for me a life long spotter. Read up on some sights later and it had been hanging round for a few days on its migration from the Lakes or Scotland back to Africa.

They get Ospreys every year at Rutland Water. It's not too far from us but for some reason I've never got around to going - must do that this summer.

[GalaSupporter]

I was playing with my camera when this guy game close to where I was sitting. I think it is a Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)...

Singing:





Eating:




"What the f*** are you lookin' at?":

[theredguy03]

Get yourself a Niger seed feeder and said seed and you'll get loads. The slits which the feed is accessible from are really narrow and the Goldfinches are the only birds that will use it.

I put one up a few years ago and within a few days they started using it. Downside is it will cost you a few bob as they go through tons of it !!!

I've got some feeder supreme seed that is suitable for little birds like the Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Robin, thanks for the advice anyway 

Never seen them before but they are very glamarous looking.

[damian]

I've just been for my daily lunchtime walk around Ruddington Park in Nottingham, which is down the road from where I work. For a few weeks there has been a swan sat on its nest right near the edge of the lake. Then a couple of weeks ago there were 2 swans on the nest, and I noticed an egg between them, managed to get the shot below:



I've been waiting for it to hatch.

Today I went and the female is still sat on the nest, the male was on the other side of the lake (I'm not entirely sure what it was doing but was going mad, flapping all over the place, seemed to be chasing something for about the 20 minutes that I was there). Anyway, between me and the nest were a couple of ducks, and it was weird because every time anyone came over to look, one of the ducks would jump up and start flapping its wings, almost as if it was trying to warn people off and protect the swan. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this before (i.e. a duck protecting a swan?). If it was scared for itself I'd have expected it just to fly or swim off as some others did, but this one just stayed between us and the nest for ages (before finally flying off).

[Lad]

I was at my mums house in Liverpool near Walton Vale the other week and when we were looking out of her lounge window a Goldfinch landed on her back yard wall. She was chuffed to bits. The most exotic bird she's ever seen there in forty years are sparrows and starlings !

When she comes down to my place in Surrey she's amazed at the variety in the garden. The only thing we disagree on is the parakeets. She loves them I can't stand them.

[zero zero]

The only thing we disagree on is the parakeets. She loves them I can't stand them.

I really feel sorry for them. So far from home.

[Lad]

I really feel sorry for them. So far from home.

I wish they were far from my home!!!

[zero zero]

I wish they were far from my home!!!

You only get the odd one or two here in Wandsworth. Do you have flocks of them? They certainly leave a lot to be desired acoustically.

Butler also noted that parakeets have no natural predators in Britain. "They live for a very long time—up to 34 years in captivity," he said. "It seems likely [their numbers] will continue to increase for the foreseeable future."

Sounds like we'll have to get used to them.

[Lad]

You only get the odd one or two here in Wandsworth. Do you have flocks of them? They certainly leave a lot to be desired acoustically.

Butler also noted that parakeets have no natural predators in Britain. "They live for a very long time—up to 34 years in captivity," he said. "It seems likely [their numbers] will continue to increase for the foreseeable future."

Sounds like we'll have to get used to them.

Yeah we are in Morden not far from Beddington Park and other wooded areas where they roost. I get inundated with them some days. They decimate the nuts I have hanging.

I remember seeing a pair of them in Richmond Park about 15 years ago and there was crowds of people gathered near the tree, all of us fascinated

Now there must be many thousands of them in Surrey. Closest I've seen them to central London was Putney Bridge not far from your neck of the woods.

[Homo rubrum]

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this before (i.e. a duck protecting a swan?). If it was scared for itself I'd have expected it just to fly or swim off as some others did, but this one just stayed between us and the nest for ages (before finally flying off).

How good of a look round did you have?  Any chance the irate duck was protecting a nest/brood of its own? 

[John C]

I was playing with my camera when this guy game close to where I was sitting. I think it is a Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)...

Lovely pics mate, thanks for that.

[damian]

How good of a look round did you have?  Any chance the irate duck was protecting a nest/brood of its own? 

I don't think so - the swans nest is only a few feet away from the edge of the lake, and there are certainly no others there. I assume it was just trying to protect itself, but I prefer to think it was being a friendly neighbour and protecting the swan

I can't remember a lot of the detail now and can't find a clip, but I saw a documentary recently where a colony of penguins were being attacked by some other creature (big bird I think), and were desperately trying to protect their young. From nowhere another species of penguin turned up from another colony and stood between them and their attacker, and basically chased it off. A bit like a duck protecting a swan

[Homo rubrum]

^^

I gotta say I think that's Happy Feet 2 you're thinking of there mate. 

[kavah]

^^

I gotta say I think that's Happy Feet 2 you're thinking of there mate. 

Ha ha

[BCCC]

I was playing with my camera when this guy game close to where I was sitting. I think it is a Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)...

Great phots Gala.

[Homo rubrum]

Gambel's quail, greater roadrunner, western tanager.   

Hinkley, Ca (yeah, the one from Erin Brockovich).

[scoresagain]

It seems that a group of Magpies and Woodpigeons (and a couple of bastard Squirrels) have found their way into my garden. Does anyone use anti-squirrel feeders, do they keep the larger birds off the food as well?

[Andy @ Allerton!]

[kavah]

Gambel's quail, greater roadrunner, western tanager.   

Hinkley, Ca (yeah, the one from Erin Brockovich).

great pictures - love the road runner - are they very common / easy to spot ?

[Homo rubrum]

great pictures - love the road runner - are they very common / easy to spot ?

They are common enough, especially where agricultural areas meet desert, and very easy to see when they are on the move.  If you drive the same desert roads much, you tend to learn where they live pretty quickly- they may be the most aptly named bird I have come across.  They don't tend to fly much, and when they do it is just a quick glide a few feet off the ground (picture); the habitat they live in means that once they are about 40 or 50 meters away they have usually gone far enough that vegetation is obscuring them.  That's why the photographs leaves a little to be desired. 

Other than having the quick movement catch my eye, the other way I find them is on fence/posts joshua trees.  They like to perch and have a survey for lizards/snakes to eat. 

[kavah]

William Brown Library re-opens tomorrow......usual trick: give it a click.
Don't know if it's just me who has to click start these vids!

http://www.baytvliverpool.com/vod/?vid=LBV5193a53a15d56

Audubon’s Birds of America on display at the renovated central Library

[John C]

Superp pic that Homo, did you take it?

[Homo rubrum]

^^ Thanks, I did, yes.  I am a wildlife biologist by trade; people tend to assume I'm actually doing my job while I faf about birding so I can get away with it. 

And, since I'm programmed to respond to positive feedback, here are a few others I've seen at work this year. 

Killdeer (its 'nest' is about ten feet away).

Great horned owl perched and in flight. 

Red tailed hawk (mid shit)

Bullock's oriole perched and taking off

[zero zero]

Some great shots there, Homo. Whereabouts are those taken?

[John C]

Absolutely brilliant shots mate, brilliant.

[Homo rubrum]

Some great shots there, Homo. Whereabouts are those taken?

All from Hinkley, CA.  Which is in the 'high desert' portion of the Mojave desert.  The mountains that descend in to the greater LA valley are in sight about 50 miles southwest. That means that we get the full suite of Mojave wildlife, a good band of any pacific migrants, and a few woodland/mountain birds you wouldn't see further in to the desert proper. 

And thank you kindly, John.  I have been working around here the Mojave for a little over two years, but only bought a big boy camera in March.  Already I feel like everything I saw up to that point was wasted.


House finch 4.25.13

Black-headed grosbeak 4.25.13

Northern mockingbird 4.25.13

Western kingbird leaving its nest 4.26.13 (the top one, on which it was roosting, while the apartment below)...

House sparrow building its nest 4.26.13

[John C]

.

That Black-headed grosbeak is brilliant mate (1100A). The extreme and envious blue sky background is lovely, the colours of the trees that look like an English Silver Birch is exquisite and the depth of field that captures the entirety of the moment is simply beautiful. Pure enviable skill mate. The gorgeous red-throated bird, dominating its surrounding with its fiery plumage, in contemplation - what shall I do next.
But most off all I love the claws. Raw nature, you couldn't draw that. Look at them.

Keep them coming mate.

[Homo rubrum]

^^ I labeled in the wrong order, that's a house finch, grosbeak is the first picture.  And I think you're confusing skill with volume. 

[zero zero]

All from Hinkley, CA.  Which is in the 'high desert' portion of the Mojave desert.  The mountains that descend in to the greater LA valley are in sight about 50 miles southwest. That means that we get the full suite of Mojave wildlife, a good band of any pacific migrants, and a few woodland/mountain birds you wouldn't see further in to the desert proper. 

Excellent, that was exactly what I was after.

[zero zero]

Black winged Kite, Uda Walawe National Park, Sri Lanka by zerozero, on Flickr


The shot is taken at dawn, hence the manic eyes. Uda Walawe NP is a brilliant place to see elephants and raptors.

[kavah]

wow - stunning - quality picture

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Black winged Kite, Uda Walawe National Park, Sri Lanka by zerozero, on Flickr


The shot is taken at dawn, hence the manic eyes. Uda Walawe NP is a brilliant place to see elephants and raptors.