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Very busy at the bird feeder today! (2 Viewers)

Bananafishbones

Incoherently Rambling .....
A good day for me - Buzzard, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Bullfinch, Jay!! Needless to say this is because i've spent quite a bit of time by the window today.

CB

If your having to look outside into the garden you could do worse than your little lot there CB, a cracking selection :t:

Still, I am made up with the woody visiting mine everyday though (this fella has starting drumming rather loudly so gives me a warning that he is here) and the Coal & Great tits are more than welcome :t:
 

Bananafishbones

Incoherently Rambling .....
CB, just remembered, I am keeping an eye out for the disapearance of the Swifts. 2 still flying above the house at about 6pm this evening.

Also Herring Gulls over on Saturday, heard them along time before seing them, and 2 LBBG over again friday or Saturday (cant remember which day now).

Dave
 

Cheshire Birder

Well-known member
CB, just remembered, I am keeping an eye out for the disapearance of the Swifts. 2 still flying above the house at about 6pm this evening.

Also Herring Gulls over on Saturday, heard them along time before seing them, and 2 LBBG over again friday or Saturday (cant remember which day now).

Dave

Herring Gulls are quite scarce locally, so thats a good record. Not heard any Swifts the last couple of days.

CB
 

Disneynut1973

Well-known member
I still have about 4 Swifts flying around at the moment plus two very noisy Gulls too over the weekend. Too far off for me to see what they are though probably Herring Gulls.

In the garden the Blue Tit is still around along with a couple of Collared Doves and a Blackbird. The rain is back today and we had a Dunnock on the shed too this morning so maybe there will be a bit more action out there!

Great pics Dave!
 

JeffMoh

Well-known member
More hummers

Like Pam, I'm not seeing a lot in our yards at present, except that we had four Ruby-throated Hummingbirds yesterday: three females and a male. Unfortunately, they're all very jumpy and so I haven't managed a photo yet.

I smeared some peanut butter on our back fence yesterday afternoon and had a young Blue Jay, a Cardinal and a Carolina Wren come within a few minutes.

We were away at Galveston Island and a local wildlife refuge Friday/Saturday. Saw some nice wading birds but not as many shorebirds as other years, because Hurricane Ike last year and a continuing drought this year have wrought havoc with our coastal habitat.

Came home to find a young House Wren sitting on our bookshelves. Our older cat must have brought it in. (I thought we'd cured her of hunting birds but obviously not.) Thank goodness, like the rat she brought in the other week, the bird seemed okay and I was able to catch it and release it outside.

Jeff
 

ChrisKten

It's true, I quite like Pigeons
Spent an hour and a half at the Reservoirs again this morning. I saw a few more birds I hadn't seen before, well one, and a few I never got a good look at. The walk is a bit much for me, but I'm hoping to go once a week.

Here's a few pictures, none are any good. They were all taken at over 100 yards, (apart from the Butterfly, that was a test of Macro). I even had to use Digital Zoom (which is crap) to get pictures of the Little Egrets and Grey Herons.

The Heron on the right is a juvenile, the parent fed it when it got there. The Little Egret isn't a large stick white Candyfloss, it just looks like that (digital zoom).
 

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ChrisKten

It's true, I quite like Pigeons
Just a quick update on my garden:

A Sparrowhawk has just taken a Starling, at least I think it was a Sparrowhawk. I heard a crash, heard all the alarm calls, the Pigeons scattered, and I heard the scream of a soon to be dead Starling. Once you hear a Starling scream as it's attacked, and has talons deep inside of it, you never forget it.

Anyway, I looked everywhere but couldn't see the Sparrowhawk. The Startling stopped screaming within 2 minutes, which is quicker than usual. So whatever it was was quite efficient at killing.

No birds have returned since (about 20 minutes ago), so I'm pretty sure it was a Sparrowhawk. Oh well, I guess I'll never know. I do know that the tactics are different, so it looks like I've some observing to do.
 

Tree Sparrow

Well-known member
Almost forgot, for those that didn't notice it in the ID thread, here's my latest visitor:

It's difficult to get a decent picture of in low light, the first one isn't too bad, second is showing her at the bread feeder (out of focus, but just to show that she's feeding from it). She's actually eaten from every feeder except the nut feeder.

Every other bird in the garden was very wary of her, even the Starlings. They sort of stared at her, then backed off. Only one Pigeon was brave enough to wing-slap her for eating all of the seed from the seed trays in the trees.

I've not seen her this morning, maybe she went home (not to Australia |=)| or the Sparrowhawk couldn't resist)

I had one of those last year and like you say all the birds were wary with a lot of alarm calling. After putting up lots of notices and contacting the vets eventually someone caught it (absolutely knackered) and we managed to find the owner. When I first saw it I got terribly excited until I realised what it was :-O.

TS
 

Bananafishbones

Incoherently Rambling .....
Well done everybody with some nice garden finds lately... Budgie, Tawny Owls, Long Eared Owls

Well for me today I will make do with LTTs (4) and a Wren (having a dust bath in the only patch of dry soil in Cheshire lol)

Dave
 

Tree Sparrow

Well-known member
A quick update from me who is trailing behind miserably as usual!

Got a nasty cold at the moment not helped by my OH going "oink oink" all the time. Anyway the feeders are still busy at the moment with house sparrow (god there are so many of them), tree sparrow including a recently fledged brood of three which arrived yesterday, chaffinch, greenfinch, great tit, blue tit, collared dove, siskin and best of all the return of the dunnock at long last.

The garden itself has plenty of willow warblers still knocking about and linnets which seem to be forming into flocks again. The swallows are very active and starting to line up on the telephone wires so it'll be interesting to see how long they stay for. I hope the ones that only fledged a week or so ago will be ready for their long flight.

Oh and I had a mystery owl in the garden today. A first for me! Put a blurry pic showing a bit of the wings in the id section but I doubt I'll get a positive id from it. If only I'd gone out to look thinking "owl" I might have had a better chance but I was thinking sprawk or merlin so my "mindset" wasn't right lol. Oh well never mind. I'll just have to call it an owl lol.

TS
 

Bananafishbones

Incoherently Rambling .....
A quick update from me who is trailing behind miserably as usual!

Anyway the feeders are still busy at the moment with house sparrow (god there are so many of them), tree sparrow including a recently fledged brood of three which arrived yesterday, chaffinch, greenfinch, great tit, blue tit, collared dove, siskin and best of all the return of the dunnock at long last.

The garden itself has plenty of willow warblers still knocking about and linnets which seem to be forming into flocks again. The swallows are very active and starting to line up on the telephone wires so it'll be interesting to see how long they stay for. I hope the ones that only fledged a week or so ago will be ready for their long flight.

TS

And still some good stuff there TS

I havent seen Siskins for ages and cant wait for their return down here
 

Fozzybear

Ich bin ein Vogelbeobachter
I'm looking forward to 'Siskin season' too... especially if the large flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares come to the village again, and the Goosanders in the park! :t:
 

Tree Sparrow

Well-known member
Just went for a look round the garden and found the owl again. Can't resist showing you all a pic.

DSC_0001-3.jpg
 

Cheshire Birder

Well-known member
Thanks, although "great" is pushing it a bit.|=)|

Well done with the Owls, I don't remember ever seeing one, let alone near my garden.

Best time to hear them is in the late winter a nice calm evening in Jan or Feb. If there are no trees near you head to the nearest woodland or park and listen. From the calls I think my birds were juveniles.


And still some good stuff there TS

I havent seen Siskins for ages and cant wait for their return down here

They will soon be back mid sept onwards but i've had them locally as early as late august. They are virtually resident at nearby Macc Forrest.


I'm looking forward to 'Siskin season' too... especially if the large flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares come to the village again, and the Goosanders in the park! :t:

You should get Redwings and Fieldfares at least a week before us in Cheshire. I've always found the best time the first two weeks in October. Listen outside on a clear crisp night (or first thing the following morning) with a light easterly wind.


Just went for a look round the garden and found the owl again. Can't resist showing you all a pic.

DSC_0001-3.jpg

Nice pic. I think we would all like that owl in our garden :t:

CB
 

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