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

Garden/Yard List 2019 (1 Viewer)

Crikey, Richard!
I thought it was bad enough here!

It caught out a lot of people and brought down lots of branches onto the roads, our three Black Redstarts vanished,no Chiffchaffs or Blackcaps heard today and a Brambling turned up, Yellowhammers reappeared with a vengeance ( I counted 28 at least) appreciating my efforts to clear an area of snow and put birdseed down.
Maybe that Swallow will finally arrive tomorrow.....
 
Spring you said? Huh, we've gone back to winter again, I measured the depth at 45cms around the house feeder this morning:eek!:

Glorious here today, five species of butterflies, White Storks bill clapping on nests, Snipe and Green Sandpiper in display flights, palm trees swaying in the breeze ...okay, perhaps not the last :)
 
I can just see Jos sipping his Pina Colada as the White Storks applaud;)

Nothing new early today, but a smart male Ring Ousel perched briefly near the house and a Serin reappeared. Best of all, a garden bird photo tick, a Rock Bunting feeding with the Yellowhammers (they like the cheap birdseed with lots of millet in it it seems) stayed long enough to allow a few portraits to be done.
 

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Two more spring additions today - Chiffchaff and Bittern. Always feel deeply honoured to have Bitterns on my land and it was a very nice night last night - clear and starlit, plus a deep resonating booming all night, wonderful.

73. Bittern
74. Chiffchaff
 
Collared Dove and Nuthatch today
Nuthatches are infrequent visitors, normally a few years between visits! A few years back we were overun with collared doves, upto a dozen at a time, but this year its been wood pigeons all the way! Chiffchaffs are around but not seen/heard one in the garden yet.
 
Unlike Stephen and Jos I couldn’t add two today, I probably would have done but just as I thought I heard a Swallow call, a helicopter droned overhead so I couldn’t confirm it. So just the one new species for the year, gliding nonchalantly along the distant mountainside looking for any unfortunate Chamois or Ibex that may have perished in the big snowfall the other day:

56 Bearded Vulture ( Lammergeier)
 
Unlike Stephen and Jos I couldn’t add two today, I probably would have done but just as I thought I heard a Swallow call, a helicopter droned overhead so I couldn’t confirm it. So just the one new species for the year, gliding nonchalantly along the distant mountainside looking for any unfortunate Chamois or Ibex that may have perished in the big snowfall the other day:

56 Bearded Vulture ( Lammergeier)

Quality over quantity :)
 
Currently there are 7 sps of finch singing outside my house - inc Brambling - there are many singing in Yorks at the mo. But this is a first for me, in over 50 years of birding.
If they stick around for much longer they'll be breeding!
 
Apart from Goldfinch hammering on the niger Perspex, a hoot from my resident Tawny, and the last few notes of Blackbird disappearing into the blanket grey....not a lot of late. :-C
 
Slow and steady again, with a

47. Northern Rough-winged Swallow (f)

seen early in the morning.

Osprey is a notable miss so far, and Broad-winged Hawks should be arriving in about a week. I still need all three falcons for the list, too. Perhaps a bit of hawkwatching is in order! Too bad I'm pretty busy today, warm and light S winds...
 
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Not a garden tick as see them around relatively frequently but just had a male sparrow hawk crash into our front window whilst nabbing a blackbird which it then proceeded to start plucking on the ground about a foot away from the house while we watched. OH wanted to scare it off but once I pointed out that the blackbird was already half plucked and fully dead we watched it for a couple of minutes until something spooked it and it flew off with its supper. Not likely to get a closer view than that!!
 
Not a garden tick as see them around relatively frequently but just had a male sparrow hawk crash into our front window whilst nabbing a blackbird which it then proceeded to start plucking on the ground about a foot away from the house while we watched. OH wanted to scare it off but once I pointed out that the blackbird was already half plucked and fully dead we watched it for a couple of minutes until something spooked it and it flew off with its supper. Not likely to get a closer view than that!!

A sad case of...not so nisus Paul :eek!:
 
And... we're not done, folks!

I "made time" for an afternoon hawkwatch that produced the goods.

49. American Kestrel (f)(x3)
50. Osprey (f)(x4)

to put me at the 50 marker.
 
Richard, it would be nice to get snow... If it means Lammergeier! :t:

Last week was nice "Springly" week, but now the weather is gray again. These are from last week:

#29. Whooper Swan - one fly over
#30. Chaffinch - at last. This must be latest of all time. Like the next one also...
#31. Fieldfare
#32. Oystercatcher - Yesterday morning it flew firstly to the West and two minutes later to the East and all that time I could heard it.

Chaffinch was late, but where are all the Bramblings? I haven't seen any at this year - anywhere!

But at Saturday I saw dragonfly on outside stair railing. Never seen dragonfly this early! :eek!: I just found out that this was Sympecma paedisca

PS. Also I saw briefly 5 big geese, but not sure was they Graylags or Canadians, so I left this case open...
 
64: Red Kite

and two House Martins - looking like they are sticking around.

And at least one, poss 3

65: Sand Martin,

which I didn't see last year!
 
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