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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

County Louth (formerly Dundalk Bay) local patch. (6 Viewers)

Hope to get better photos when get time. I never got 5 Redpolls at once before but perhaps new proper steel Niger feeder not in these pictures where lots can feed at same time is helping to draw them in. One poor female couldnt seem to manage to land on the feeder so I had to move it with Clematis stalks alongside it for her. They are nervous little birds and often looking behind them for intruders but very pretty. One of them goes on the peanut feeder as well.
 

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Buzzard in Bettystown

Buzzard very active this morning in field behind Bettystown Cross. Normally it passes over South to North in the mornings but today it is hunting. Perched on fence two doors away from my place so I got a ringside seat.
P


Old saying; If you wait long enough the birds will come to you;;)
 
Yeah there Grey backs/Hooded alright, nasty bunch of feckers too when they get hold of a young lamb...

Aye, those grey crows are indeed outlaws. Grey crows are a sub species of carrion crows. There is one population that occupies essentially Ireland and Scotland, then there is a gap and they reappear in eastern europe. In the gap are their cousins, carrion crows. This is because during the ice age a small population of grey crows got seperated in Ireland, so they are arguably one of our few indigenous sub-species. During the Nepolionic wars, irish mercenaries who, dieing in the freeezing russian steppes, saw grey crows decend to eat their dead and rotting comrades, thought that their irish ghosts had flown from ireland to take them because they did no know that another sub-population of grey crows existed in eastern europe. Greys have an extraordinaty ecology. 90% of greys never breed even though they may pair and live up to 10 years and remain hangers on on the periphery of a dominant pairs' territory. Sometimes the dominant pair accepts a "third man", an unpaired male related to the dominant male, but none of the rest of the residential flock is allowed near the core territory. Old pairs get to know their territory very well and are very wise to their enemies...try to take a photo of a grey crow! I've never gotten close enough to get a good one...
 
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I think I have seen a few grey ones about on roofs too and quite daunting looking birds that always look up to no good so will try. Now I know I was correct thinking that. I had definite 7 query 8 Redpolls yesterday often at one time (couple better photos) plus the different one which has no streaks at all around neck throat and shoulders as well as all down belly. It is a real yellow plain colour all around neck and shoulders but bit nervous on feeder still and not staying long yet.
 
Just noticing now on split that some of my Redpolls have different lengths of tails unusually even on each individual bird and some are more exquisitely designed on their backs than others but it just mentions one Redpoll in my books. One beautiful bird actually has a forked half tail oneside and on other side two shorter pointier tails with white on them (ie. three tails). Anyway that prompted a bit of googling which seems to indicate that I have some Lesser Redpolls as well as ordinary ones. I think the commoner one is less pretty and smaller but all bit confusing. I also see the one I described with real yellow plain throat and neck and white fat plain belly is an Artic one I think and who is very noticeably different from others but only making brief appearances so far.
 
Aye, those grey crows are indeed outlaws. Grey crows are a sub species of carrion crows. There is one population that occupies essentially Ireland and Scotland, then there is a gap and they reappear in eastern europe. In the gap are their cousins, carrion crows. This is because during the ice age a small population of grey crows got seperated in Ireland, so they are arguably one of our few indigenous sub-species. During the Nepolionic wars, irish mercenaries who, dieing in the freeezing russian steppes, saw grey crows decend to eat their dead and rotting comrades, thought that their irish ghosts had flown from ireland to take them because they did no know that another sub-population of grey crows existed in eastern europe. Greys have an extraordinaty ecology. 90% of greys never breed even though they may pair and live up to 10 years and remain hangers on on the periphery of a dominant pairs' territory. Sometimes the dominant pair accepts a "third man", an unpaired male related to the dominant male, but none of the rest of the residential flock is allowed near the core territory. Old pairs get to know their territory very well and are very wise to their enemies...try to take a photo of a grey crow! I've never gotten close enough to get a good one...

Interesting post Breffni, they are indeed clever, they are very defensive of their territory, and will come within range of a hunter if he uses an electronic Caller.
Hav to admit, it's one bird I dont like ...
 
Just a few photos and definitely not easy to get as they never seem to be still. I actually had 10 on feeder and clematis stalks and easily one hidden totally behind. In eight years here I have never seen anymore than 3 in my garden at one time so the harsh winter didnt harm them.
 

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Just few more photos of these lovely little birds.
 

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A Floral Ramble Through County Louth

This evening, Monday 1st February 2010 at 8pm at the Spirit Store, Dundak Docks, Dundalk, Dr Maurice Eakin will give an illustrated talk about the flora and ecology of County Louth entitled A Floral Ramble Through County Louth. The talk will cover Louth from the Boyne valley, thought the depths of Ardee Bog to the heights of Clogherhead and the Cooley Mountains. The talk is suitable for anyone with an interest in the natural world and will follow up on Brendan McSherry's previous talk on the geology of County Louth.



Maurice Eakin is the District Officer for the National Parks and Wildlife Service covering counties Dublin, Meath and Louth. He took his PhD at Colraine University in Botany.

Entry is free and all are welcome!
 
I saw 2 of the Grey Crows this morning on roof top bottom of garden. I could see one really thin whitish line on one wing also with some richer grey than usual (probably juvenile) and other totally dark one with binoculars. Gone the minute I got camera out but will keep eye out for them. I see the Herring Gulls, Rooks etc are flying out of a large garden at a house near the Paupers graves park with chunks of bread so quite a few large birds about here hoovering on roofs to see are we all going to put bread out. The morning after the first day I moved into this house I had a Raven on my fence at backdoor and for months and months I never could go into the garden without checking if he was there. He was scary looking.
 
killing of red kite

i overheard two gunclub men talking about a bird of prey killed with radio tags on its wings, and fobbing off a guy a week later looking for a red kite, also talking about wageing war on buzzards. i know the name of the gunclub who can i report this to, and is it not time gun clubs were better policed.
 
i overheard two gunclub men talking about a bird of prey killed with radio tags on its wings, and fobbing off a guy a week later looking for a red kite, also talking about wageing war on buzzards. i know the name of the gunclub who can i report this to, and is it not time gun clubs were better policed.

John Brophy or Maurice Eakin at NPWS, tel 046 9093506/0868059240
 
Thats the problem with Gun clubs, it takes a few senior members to spread the word that Buzzards or Kites are causing mayhem and soon the whole club believe it.
I dont belong to a gun club myself.

Most shooters believe it or not are avid bird lovers and do a lot to protect habitat for birds etc.
I myself shoot quite a bit but not Pheasents or game etc only vermin like Grey Backs, Magpies, Fox and Rabbit.
Its depressing hearing idiots like that talk about culling Buzzards, they need more educating on the subject.

Definitly ring the number provided by Breffni and maybe the officer will have a word with the club. A license can be revoked if the laws were broken and no shooter wants to lose his licence as firearms and the security now needed to possess one cost a lot of money.
 
I've made common cause with gun clubs in the past, particularly in regard to inappropriate development, preservation of habitats etc - most are responsible but as Gareth points out, it only takes a few eegits. Then you do have the eegits with a gun who barely know how to use it...came across a couple of lads with a CO2 powered pellet gun popping anything they could find at ballymascanlon last year - fortunately they couldn't hit anything but were aiming at robins, blackbirds etc.
 
I counted 19 at least Redpolls in garden so obviously a large flock of them in the woods. I am noticing this morning that two of them had real flushed red chests and wonderding does this mean some are going to breed shortly. I am guessing also that the council planted trees in the woods such as Alder Birch etc that they feed on and perhaps helping them to breed here.
Also have one colourful male Siskin now along with two females regularly feeding too. Quite a few Redpolls attempting peanut feeder happily now but you would know its the first attempts of some.
 
Hi Dolce - the red flush chests are probably linnets coming into breeding plumage - look for a grey head. I find that redpolls have deeply cleft tails, whcih makes it easy to id them from a distance.
 
Had a redpoll in the garden today, Looking it up on the net and various books I'm fairly confident it was a lesser redpoll.
 
Hi Dolce - the red flush chests are probably linnets coming into breeding plumage - look for a grey head. I find that redpolls have deeply cleft tails, whcih makes it easy to id them from a distance.

Thats exactly what I thought at first because none of the Redpolls had any red chests before now so I took a good look at the two suddenly with them today. They had the black bib under chin and striped black and brown backs so definitely Redpolls. In fact I think it is odd to have so many Redpolls and have been looking closely at them in case Linnets mixed with them but not so.
I also saw a bird the other day who dropped chunk of cotton wool in my garden and father thought that unusual as early he said. I have an Italian Cypress tree slowly thickening out and noticed a couple of birds nosing in it and think something is going to nest in it eventually. The Redpolls are dotted along the tops of the Ash and everywhere in garden, they have simply taken over. They are beautiful little birds and I did wish for them |=)|........ The other day I wondered why they were all ground feeding and of course they had cleaned the new large feeder in days as so many of them. I counted 9 Redwings otherday beside here so must be staying for the winter. I must check woods to see if I can see the Redpolls there when I return from visiting my granchild.
 
I can actually open the patio doors now and go out to feed cats etc and the Redpolls now will look up but most just stay on the Arch feeding away hardly more than 12 foot from the back door. I think I read somewhere they like to be close to the sea too.
 
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