Unlikely birds seen on telephone wires ... (1 Viewer)

dantheman · Oct 25, 2016

Ignoring those ones from the tv ads, any interesting, different, unusual birds seen on overhead wires? Rarities of course now and then too ...

Driving through the lanes the other day four small birds on the wires at the roadside were actually quite surprising to me, although I guess maybe not totally unexpected.

birdboybowley · Oct 25, 2016

An Amami Woodcock was a bit unexpected this year as we drove up Mt Yuwan.....!

timsg80 · Oct 26, 2016

My fondest memory of a bird on a telephone wire was a stunning male Red-footed Falcon in the Camargues in France. Obviously not unusual for a Falcon to be on a wire, but given the species' rarity there and it's pristine plumage, I was totally blown away! Crested Guan in Costa Rica is probably the most unexcpected bird I've seen on a wire in terms of least likely family to be sitting up there. And then around Brisbane there seems to be a Tawny Frogmouth perched on most wires at night!

Andy Adcock · Oct 26, 2016

Common Tern on farmland in Russia, this surprised me due to habitat as much as anything else, no water anywhere near?

Bluethroat in Russia, they probably do this a lot but as a Brit who sees them usually as skulking vagrants, it's odd to see them do it..

A

dalat · Oct 26, 2016

andyadcock said:
Bluethroat in Russia, they probably do this a lot but as a Brit who sees them usually as skulking vagrants, it's odd to see them do it.

I've got one as well, from Moldova. Must be an eastern thing.

Andy Adcock · Oct 26, 2016

Are you sure you weren't standing behind me Florian!

Andy

keith · Oct 26, 2016

Wryneck on telephone wire from my front window, spotted by my wife while having a coffee.

Farnboro John · Oct 26, 2016

European Woodcock on telephone wire on Mull (no photo, sorry - a long time ago!)

John

foresttwitcher · Oct 26, 2016

Two Cattle Egret in Corsica a couple of weeks ago.

Sangahyando · Oct 26, 2016

andyadcock said:
Bluethroat in Russia, they probably do this a lot but as a Brit who sees them usually as skulking vagrants, it's odd to see them do it..

FWIW, I can't recall seeing them do that, and they're fairly easy to find around here.

Morg · Oct 26, 2016

Common Gull springs to mind - though it was not very adept

Phil Andrews · Oct 27, 2016

Buzby (extinct since the mid 1980s)

Johann Sebastian Bach · Oct 27, 2016

Flinging back the curtains on Christmas Day in 1988 produced the gruesome sight of a dead tawny owl on the electricity cables outside my house. The bird had one foot around one cable, the other being around the lower one, with the bird hanging upside down. The two cables were 20 - 30cm apart.
The bird remained there for about a fortnight until the electricity company came to remove it.

Not a pleasant memory.

Peter

KenM · Oct 27, 2016

Johann Sebastian Bach said:
Flinging back the curtains on Christmas Day in 1988 produced the gruesome sight of a dead tawny owl on the electricity cables outside my house. The bird had one foot around one cable, the other being around the lower one, with the bird hanging upside down. The two cables were 20 - 30cm apart.
The bird remained there for about a fortnight until the electricity company came to remove it.

Not a pleasant memory.

Peter

Presumably it would have been alright if it had perched on the higher cable only...completing the circuit by touching the lower cable brought about it's demise?

Birdingcraft · Oct 27, 2016

Interesting topic. Earlier this year, I was surprised to see a Golden-naped Woodpecker perched on a wire in Costa Rica- not surprising if it was on a post but I have seen very few or maybe no woodpeckers perched on wires much less one that occurs in rainforest.

But an even more unusual sighting of a bird on a wire was of a Red-fronted Parrotlet perched on a wire visible from my bedroom window. Not only does this rare species not perch on wires as a habit, but it's also not normally seen where this occurred in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. That sighting might be the most unlikely avian situation I have ever experienced.

Johann Sebastian Bach · Oct 28, 2016

KenM said:
Presumably it would have been alright if it had perched on the higher cable only...completing the circuit by touching the lower cable brought about it's demise?

That was certainly my assumption.

Peter

JWCatt · Oct 28, 2016

Northern Shrike

Maroon Jay · Oct 28, 2016

In Texas I was surprised to see a bunch of duck on a wire. (Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.) Have also seen them in trees.

Stonefaction · Oct 28, 2016

Black Grouse (female) for me. Apparently not that unusual, but it was certainly the one and only time I've seen it.

https://flic.kr/p/GY3wNz

Andy Adcock · Oct 28, 2016

Stonefaction said:
Black Grouse (female) for me. Apparently not that unusual, but it was certainly the one and only time I've seen it.

https://flic.kr/p/GY3wNz

I remember once in Speyside, Scotland, seeing 5 Black Grouse in a small Birch tree, a very odd sight!

A

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