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Birds you could watch for hours and hours... (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Patudo
- Start date
Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
I enjoy the garden Coal Tits as they carry out their 100s of visits in a day collecting seeds. When out and about nothing better than watching a pair of Buzzards soaring and the calling to each other.... bliss
skatebirder
Well-known member
Swifts for me. Any kind of Swift.
Chosun Juan
Given to Fly
Raptors - particularly good ones are Little Eagle, Spotted Harrier, and Black-shouldered Kite, since they will often thoroughly work over an area. Other times I can be transfixed watching floaty Square-tailed Kites, Whistling Kites, Black Kites, or Brown Falcons as they ride thermals along an escarpment or something - noting each twitch of a feather, jink of a tail - feeling the slightest interaction with air, looking where to go next - it becomes quite transcendental 
and of course who hasn't soared off into the clouds as a Wedge-tailed Eagle circles higher and higher out of sight ....... :cat:
One other bird I really love is the Lyrebird - I was way in the mountains once and could hear this multitude of different birds on the other side of a largish dense shrub - after 20 minutes or so I'm thinking hang on, there's no way that shrub can fit that many different birds ! It must be a Lyrebird ! ..... and so I sat down and listened to this magnificent bird not 10 feet from me but completely out of sight. I felt no need to try and get a look and possibly spook the bird, so I just sat there and listened over a further half hour or more as he went through his full glorious repertoire. In the end he shuffled off without either of us seeing each other, and I just sat there ..... thankful.
Chosun :gh:
and of course who hasn't soared off into the clouds as a Wedge-tailed Eagle circles higher and higher out of sight ....... :cat:One other bird I really love is the Lyrebird - I was way in the mountains once and could hear this multitude of different birds on the other side of a largish dense shrub - after 20 minutes or so I'm thinking hang on, there's no way that shrub can fit that many different birds ! It must be a Lyrebird ! ..... and so I sat down and listened to this magnificent bird not 10 feet from me but completely out of sight. I felt no need to try and get a look and possibly spook the bird, so I just sat there and listened over a further half hour or more as he went through his full glorious repertoire. In the end he shuffled off without either of us seeing each other, and I just sat there ..... thankful.
Chosun :gh:
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Yes! Barn Owls, Short & Long-eared Owls. And Harriers. That slow floating-quartering thing is mesmerising.
Peregrines & Merlins - can never see enough of them.
bonxie birder
Going for the One
Treecreepers.
So many... but I do love watching Red-footed Falcons (one of my favourite BOPs), when they stop here during the spring migration. Usually there's several of them at the same time hunting over the fields, and a few individuals resting on power lines, so lots to see and lots of different plumages too.
Since lockdown began I have also spent several enjoyable hours watching our feeders and the dynamics between different species (mostly Siskins and Tits) there.
Since lockdown began I have also spent several enjoyable hours watching our feeders and the dynamics between different species (mostly Siskins and Tits) there.
wolfbirder
Well-known member
The most breathtaking observation for me was seeing a beautiful full adult male Pallid Harrier holding territory and displaying, at Forest of Bowland in Lancashire in 2017.
Everyone had to walk about 3 miles to get to the spot to observe this beautiful raptor, but I was simply transfixed by it, and returned twice more over the coming weeks to watch him.
Sometimes he would glide down the valley, switch back to hunt passerines, sometimes passing very closely. Occasionally he perched up on a fencepost with his kill. But it was the breath-taking breeding display that really drew 'ooohs and aahs' from the observers. It would fly to great heights then stoop spectacularly whilst doing its spectacular roller-coaster display. It even did this once directly above us at just a few hundred feet. It would also carry sticks at times.
Probably the best bird I have ever seen in a wonderful location. It eventually moved on with a bad spell of weather, or possibly suffered a more gruesome ending at the hands of the murderous bastards who inhibit that area, in the name of grouse-farming. I prefer to think the former-.
Either way, he was just a superb individual, looks-wise and behaviour-wise and I watched him for hours on those 3 separate dates. Probably my best bird ever. Epitomised birding at its very best!
Everyone had to walk about 3 miles to get to the spot to observe this beautiful raptor, but I was simply transfixed by it, and returned twice more over the coming weeks to watch him.
Sometimes he would glide down the valley, switch back to hunt passerines, sometimes passing very closely. Occasionally he perched up on a fencepost with his kill. But it was the breath-taking breeding display that really drew 'ooohs and aahs' from the observers. It would fly to great heights then stoop spectacularly whilst doing its spectacular roller-coaster display. It even did this once directly above us at just a few hundred feet. It would also carry sticks at times.
Probably the best bird I have ever seen in a wonderful location. It eventually moved on with a bad spell of weather, or possibly suffered a more gruesome ending at the hands of the murderous bastards who inhibit that area, in the name of grouse-farming. I prefer to think the former
-.Either way, he was just a superb individual, looks-wise and behaviour-wise and I watched him for hours on those 3 separate dates. Probably my best bird ever. Epitomised birding at its very best!
foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member
It's got to be Red Kite - never get tired of seeing them elegantly soaring.
I agree. I have never seen Pallids display, but I have seen Montys, probably not as spectacular also because Pallids are ghost-like, almost magical birds, but an impressive (and highly entertaining) sight too.
Thinking about one of my pre-lockdown haunts after reading some of the replies. Reminded me of watching 6 hobbies catching dragonflies on the wing from the side on the last hide over the marshes at Brandon Marsh, Midlands, UK.
Myself and the other birder present watched for ages
Not sure it’s a sight we will see this year!
Myself and the other birder present watched for ages
Not sure it’s a sight we will see this year!
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