TheSeagull
Well-known member
Had the Blue Tit again this morning, looks like I've got another regular! Gosh he's fast though!
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Very busy at the bird feeder today! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Moraybirdlover
- Start date
captaincarot
Well-known member
today we went to eastwood the first RSPB reserve, which is only about 5 minutes up the road.
it turned out to be the day of the nuthatch. at one point we saw 3 of them all squabbling with each other.
there were also lots of assorted tits blue, great and 4 coal tits at the same time. plus a visit from a small flock of long tailed tits.
then bornwild got another lifer, in a tree creeper which we watched for a good 10 minutes searching it's way up the trunk and branches of a couple of trees.
took masses of pics but unfortunately none of em were quite right.(well none of mine were anyway).
at home we had lots more visits from jackdaws and squirrels, with one of each on the table feeder at the same time.
am now working on getting pics as good as some of the ones from other people on this post.
p.s. that owl picture is very good.
it turned out to be the day of the nuthatch. at one point we saw 3 of them all squabbling with each other.
there were also lots of assorted tits blue, great and 4 coal tits at the same time. plus a visit from a small flock of long tailed tits.
then bornwild got another lifer, in a tree creeper which we watched for a good 10 minutes searching it's way up the trunk and branches of a couple of trees.
took masses of pics but unfortunately none of em were quite right.(well none of mine were anyway).
at home we had lots more visits from jackdaws and squirrels, with one of each on the table feeder at the same time.
am now working on getting pics as good as some of the ones from other people on this post.
p.s. that owl picture is very good.
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Bfb, Forgot to ask what time did you see the geese and which way were they heading?
Captaincarot/Bornwild, Well done on your trip to eastwood. Never been there myself.
CB
Captaincarot/Bornwild, Well done on your trip to eastwood. Never been there myself.
CB
Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
CB
Re: Pink footed geese
14.30hrs, and it was fairly dull / dark at the time, not raining but very low Slate grey cloud.
They went over silently in a near V formation and were heading in general direction of Davenport Golf club, they came directly over the house and fairly low (Not much more than 35-40ft above the roof tops), I guess they came over from Woodford direction
Dave
Re: Pink footed geese
14.30hrs, and it was fairly dull / dark at the time, not raining but very low Slate grey cloud.
They went over silently in a near V formation and were heading in general direction of Davenport Golf club, they came directly over the house and fairly low (Not much more than 35-40ft above the roof tops), I guess they came over from Woodford direction
Dave
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Probably set off in good weather in Norfolk, then had to fly below the cloud to get their bearings although they don't usually fly that low. Maybe they were feeding nearby and had decided to move on. Flying south to north is not the normal direction either. They usually favour SE to NW or vice versa.
CB
jasperpatch
Amy, Brit in Quebec.
thankyou so much for the comments on the owl photo, it was a magic moment for me and great to get the feedback too!
Off to the wildife garden christmas do today, and finally some cardinal shots i'm willing to share! but first on the way there, a hairy woodpecker hanging out on a street coner in downtown ottawa, the first shot is just to give an idea of setting - by the traffic lights at a busy cross-street! No excuses for anyone not to get feeders out!
enjoy the week everyone, hope you get some daylight spotting in.
Off to the wildife garden christmas do today, and finally some cardinal shots i'm willing to share! but first on the way there, a hairy woodpecker hanging out on a street coner in downtown ottawa, the first shot is just to give an idea of setting - by the traffic lights at a busy cross-street! No excuses for anyone not to get feeders out!
enjoy the week everyone, hope you get some daylight spotting in.
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Disneynut1973
Well-known member
Jasper, I love the owl photo, a great shot.
Jeff, love your Costa Rica posts, so much wildlife to see not just the birds!
Jeff, love your Costa Rica posts, so much wildlife to see not just the birds!
Thanks, Pam. In fact, the best sighting of the whole trip came at the end of the bus tour and wasn't a bird. I'll blog it later this morning.
We've had a miserably gray and wet weekend. The bright spot was that I'm getting closer to achieving my current quest - a good photo of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. They're tiny and very skittish birds that never stop moving, and so they're really hard to photograph. However, one of them has taken a liking to a feeder that hangs 2 feet outside our livingroom window. I got these shots yesterday. Okay, the dull lighting produced lots of "noise" in these photos but I should be able to do better when the weather returns to normal.
Jeff
www.jeffincypress.blogspot.com
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TheSeagull
Well-known member
No birds in the garden today. Not one. :smoke:
totally the opposite here, filled up the feeders and around 10 blue tits a few great tits, robin and 4 dunnocks, 3 coal tits, blackbird eating berries, a couple of chaffinches. Green and goldfinch present too, plus 3 squirrels entertaining!
Also a sparrowhawk through a flock of small birds, not sure if it got any but it was very acrobatic.
Very nice shots of the Cardinal, Amy. Hope you can photograph them in snow at some point.
Love the Hairy, too. I very rarely see them here, so I have to be content with our Downys.
Jeff
captaincarot
Well-known member
that cardinal looks a beautiful bird.
here are a few of the visitors to one of our feeders today.
it's the first time i've seen the woodpecker on the feeders, it's only been in the trees up till now and i think the jackdaw is having a bit of an identity crisis.
we had the usual blue and great tits plus 4 coal tits.
there were also a small flock of long tailed tits in the tree but not on the feeder.
over in the trees at the back there were 5 gold finches.
our robin has been chasing the dunnock round in circles most of the day, he really does not seen to like it.
the wren was in the ivy but i couldn't get a picture of it at all.
though the light has been appaling all day. hence the noise in the pictures i did manage to take.
here are a few of the visitors to one of our feeders today.
it's the first time i've seen the woodpecker on the feeders, it's only been in the trees up till now and i think the jackdaw is having a bit of an identity crisis.
we had the usual blue and great tits plus 4 coal tits.
there were also a small flock of long tailed tits in the tree but not on the feeder.
over in the trees at the back there were 5 gold finches.
our robin has been chasing the dunnock round in circles most of the day, he really does not seen to like it.
the wren was in the ivy but i couldn't get a picture of it at all.
though the light has been appaling all day. hence the noise in the pictures i did manage to take.
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Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
Woodpeckers are very special garden birds so I would think they are very much appreciated on both sides of the pond. When they visit I cant take my eyes off them.
I am happy with the 6 Redwings that visited the garden this afternoon, beats my previous highest garden count of 3.
Had a few hours in our local forest this morning (very grey and damp), nothing much unusual, was nice to see a lone male Goldeneye on Trentabank reservoir and then I stumbled across 6 female pheasant crossing the road along side a river, then saw 2 males about a mile further on.
Dave
I am happy with the 6 Redwings that visited the garden this afternoon, beats my previous highest garden count of 3.
Had a few hours in our local forest this morning (very grey and damp), nothing much unusual, was nice to see a lone male Goldeneye on Trentabank reservoir and then I stumbled across 6 female pheasant crossing the road along side a river, then saw 2 males about a mile further on.
Dave
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Hobbes2
Well-known member
Cor! More great photos from everyone.
Jeff, your little Ruby-crowned Kinglet reminds me of a Goldcrest. Good luck with getting some decent light for more photo opportunities.
Weather here has been horrible again. Dark, grey, chucking it down....very depressing. The garden is still awash with the little birds stocking up on free food. Thought I'd got a Lesser Redpoll today....grabbed the bins and discovered it was 'only' a female Chaffinch....wishful thinking, lol.
Hobbes
Jeff, your little Ruby-crowned Kinglet reminds me of a Goldcrest. Good luck with getting some decent light for more photo opportunities.
Weather here has been horrible again. Dark, grey, chucking it down....very depressing. The garden is still awash with the little birds stocking up on free food. Thought I'd got a Lesser Redpoll today....grabbed the bins and discovered it was 'only' a female Chaffinch....wishful thinking, lol.
Hobbes
CC's photos brought home to me how most birds in one country seem to have their equivalent in other countries. For example, the UK tits are similar to the North Am chickadees, the UK woodpecker in CC's photo is very like our Downy Woodpecker. Not sure what our equivalent of the Jackdaw is. Common Grackle maybe?
Of course, local conditions shape each bird's appearance but you can see the resemblances, and presumably they fill similar environmental niches.
Jeff
Of course, local conditions shape each bird's appearance but you can see the resemblances, and presumably they fill similar environmental niches.
Jeff
karpman
Well-known member
Nice one guys!
Cc awesome woodpeckers for sure! Musta been blown away mate.
Dave splendid photos mate!
Been very average in my garden "never thought i'd say that lol" Not that im complaining, Its fantastic to have birds in my garden at all.
Think i have made them a little wary pushing my voyeuristic tenancies a little far for there liking lol.
Guess they will get used to me pointing a camera at em and sneaking round the garden
karpster
Cc awesome woodpeckers for sure! Musta been blown away mate.
Dave splendid photos mate!
Been very average in my garden "never thought i'd say that lol" Not that im complaining, Its fantastic to have birds in my garden at all.
Think i have made them a little wary pushing my voyeuristic tenancies a little far for there liking lol.
Guess they will get used to me pointing a camera at em and sneaking round the garden
karpster
captaincarot
Well-known member
this is actually the second garden i've had GSW feeding on my peanut feeders in.
the first time was when i used to live in oxfordshire. and believe it or not the first one truned up on christmas day and came back daily for the rest of the year winter so i'm hoping this one does the same.
bornwild also used to get them on her feeders when she live in a previous house too. we're both very happy to have them back. you wouldn't believe how many pics i have of it.
jeff it did strike me when i saw that picture of the hairy woodpecker how much alike they appeared. but i suppose if the ecosystems are similar then the birds filling each niche within it will also end up similar.
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Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
This is a good example of genetic convergence where two widely separated species converge due to the ecosystems they live in. I'm sure we have many parallels, between Britain and the US, in that respect.
CB
PS great pics again everyone!!!
Still wet and dark here. I feel very resentful about it - not reasonable, given that we usually have blue sky and sun almost all the time.
The feeder outside our window is really drawing in the birds now. More photos of the Ruby-crowned were really noisy, so I won't post them. A photo of a female House Finch was a bit better.
I've hung a pine cone covered in peanut butter and seeds near the feeder and getting to it has become an obsession with a Northern Mockingbird. The latter keeps trying to hover to get at the peanut butter. Manages to get a little most times. Haven't got a shot of the hovering attempts yet - because of slow focusing and shutter delay on my camera - but got some of the bird planning its attempts.
The problems with lighting, focusing and shutter delay have made me decide it's time to move up to a DSLR. Can't afford a lot, so will probably go with a Sony A230 and a Sigma 75-300mm lens for a total of about $650. The zoom goes to 450mm equivalent on the Sony, so should be long enough for my purposes.
Jeff
www.jeffincypress.blogspot.com
The feeder outside our window is really drawing in the birds now. More photos of the Ruby-crowned were really noisy, so I won't post them. A photo of a female House Finch was a bit better.
I've hung a pine cone covered in peanut butter and seeds near the feeder and getting to it has become an obsession with a Northern Mockingbird. The latter keeps trying to hover to get at the peanut butter. Manages to get a little most times. Haven't got a shot of the hovering attempts yet - because of slow focusing and shutter delay on my camera - but got some of the bird planning its attempts.
The problems with lighting, focusing and shutter delay have made me decide it's time to move up to a DSLR. Can't afford a lot, so will probably go with a Sony A230 and a Sigma 75-300mm lens for a total of about $650. The zoom goes to 450mm equivalent on the Sony, so should be long enough for my purposes.
Jeff
www.jeffincypress.blogspot.com
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Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
I like your mockingbrd Jeff. I am a fan of our Thrush family and the mockingbird has a thrush like appearance. The lovely bluey-grey pastel tint looks good.
Good luck with DSLR (Keep an eye on the for sale section on here, when someone gets rid of stuff it usually means they are desperate for cash to fund an upgrade, plus a little bartering usually means a bargain :t
Just got up (after working nights!!) and the feeder and garden is mega busy. A very nice suprise is to find 5 (possibly 6) Long Tailed tits (the first since August) busying away in the willow tree, it looks like the Blue tits are being territorial with them. Woodpigeon numbers increasing also.
Off for a brew and to sit by the window for an hour before the partner gets in, then I have to look like I have done something constructive this afternoon
Dave
Good luck with DSLR (Keep an eye on the for sale section on here, when someone gets rid of stuff it usually means they are desperate for cash to fund an upgrade, plus a little bartering usually means a bargain :t
Just got up (after working nights!!) and the feeder and garden is mega busy. A very nice suprise is to find 5 (possibly 6) Long Tailed tits (the first since August) busying away in the willow tree, it looks like the Blue tits are being territorial with them. Woodpigeon numbers increasing also.
Off for a brew and to sit by the window for an hour before the partner gets in, then I have to look like I have done something constructive this afternoon
Dave
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