What did you see in your binoculars today? (1 Viewer)

[mfunnell]

Follow-up on my Eastern Spinebills: that White-Cheeked Honeyeater turned out to be a bit too aggressive for its own good.

When some Rainbow Lorikeets came to visit, it decided to have a go at them as well. Trouble is, the lorikeets come in groups, and each lorikeet is about 4 times the size of the little honeyeater. The end result is the White-Cheeked Honeyeater was driven away. And because they don't bother each other, my little spinebill friends came back.

(This was all last week - I'm away right now. But even for birds, it does seem as if sometimes ye reap what ye sow...)

...Mike

 

[mfunnell]

Perhaps I'm on my Pat Malone, here, but interested in binoculars as I am (I'm sure I've over-proven that!) I'm even more interested in what I see through them - oddly enough on birdforum.net, mostly looking at birds (go figure).

Last week (I'm back home now) I was away at my Dad's place, and we were both watching a fledgling (nearly adult) Currawong doing a psych-job on it's parent (I'm presuming the mother, but what would I know from Currawongs?)...

This little beastie seemed more than capable of fending for itself yet, for at least part of the time, ran a psy-ops campaign against it's Mum. Obviously too big for the nest, instead it dug in behind the anti-bird spikes (ha ha) on a roof near my Dad's balcony; built a pretend nest; and proceeded to make nest-bound begging noises. Poor Mum seemed compelled to feed it under those circumstances. Thus she kept doing so. When the spoilt-brat was away she dispersed the 'nest' (seemingly, if I'm not anthropomorphising too far, because she knew she was being manipulated).

Yet, soon enough, bratty Junior would fly in with more twigs, reassemble an ersatz 'nest' and start squawking and squarking: "I'm starving, Mum!" So, poor girl, she'd fly in and feed again as if under a compulsion she disliked but was powerless to resist.

Dad and I observed this over days, with binoculars and me (very occasionally) with camera.

...Mike

P.S. Binoculars used for observations: Dad with a set of Terra ED 8x32s I gave him a few years ago; and me with the 8x32FLs I replaced them with.

 

[mfunnell]

Still with the Currawong - here's the near-adult little manipulator seen a tad closer (on Dad's balcony rail).

Note that the grey (rather than black) under-parts are the give-away that it isn't fully adult. Also note these things (ie. Currawongs) can look rather savagely carnivorous.

But that's only because they are...

...Mike

 

[Ries]

Highlight #1 yesterday was an Osprey sunning in a tree on quite a distance. But with my supersteady and sharp 7x42 Meostar I could make out its facial pattern and collar...awesome. Highlight #2 were four Bearded Tits fouraging on a dirtpath through reedbeds. I could keep quite a distance to let them going on without noticing me, and still could make out the beard stripes on the two males. That was quite a sight, never have seen them so in the open and for so long. But it was weekend so didn't take long for loudmouthed hikers came along...booooo

 

[StephenHampshire]

This morning- a little egret, a kingfisher, couple of jays, red kite, buzzard, redstart, skylark, meadow pipit
This afternoon, half a dozen long tailed tits, another egret, red kite, kestrel
This evening shoveller, teal, wigeon, coromrants, heron, 45 canada geese, GBBG and a marsh harrier

Three different binoculars too!

 

[Upland]

Northern Shrike

 

[mfunnell]

Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos.

I don't see them often, and not for long. I happened to be testing my new (to me) 7x42FLs for glare (1st sunny morning in a while; they did very well) when a couple of these black cockatoos arrived (just briefly) in a tree that's awkwardly placed for my viewing from my balcony. But I did get to watch them. I thought, for a moment, about trying to grab my camera but figured they'd be gone by the time I did. I'm glad I spent the time just watching them (albeit all too little time, since they did fly off pretty quickly).

...Mike

 

[yarrellii]

Swallows!
Just looked out of the window, the usual suspects (goldfinch, greenfinch, Sardinian warbler, house sparrow...) but what surprised me is that we still have house martins and swallows around in late October. I'm curious to see when they finally leave. We already have most of the Wintertime visitors (robin, pied wagtail, song thrush, black redstar, etc.) and it's a lovely sight to see the chirping fly of the "Summertime masters" among them.

 

[eronald]

I forgot my binoculars. I saw a white heron, some crows, and some horses.

 

[CharleyBird]

Nice surprise mid-afternoon on my local patch, a kingfisher flew into view as I was watching a shoveller swim round in circles. In 18 years I can't recall seeing a kingfisher on Highams Park lake, then spot two busily fishing in one afternoon, close up views too.
Watched a pair of mandarin duck doing very little and walked to the head of the lake.
While looking at little grebe (which I am fond of for no particular reason) a neighbour strolled past on her covid-constitutional and said hello; she borrowed my 7x42 FL to have a butchers, and said "These are really nice". Didn't comment on the little grebe though.

 

[Troubador]

The first Redwing of the winter in our Rowan Tree, grabbing the berries that the Blackbirds have left.

Lee

 

[yarrellii]

I spent a good deal of time trying to locate the first gannets of the season, to no avail. However, today was a windy day and Scopoli's shearwaters flew pretty close to the cliffs. Even with a "limited" 8x30 (Traveller ED) I was able to enjoy their lovely flight.

Walking back home, a nice surprise: a common raven. Corvids are probably not among the most exciting birds for many, so common both in town and around the countryside, but in Ibiza they simply don't exist. There's no magpie, crow, let alone jay; only two pairs of raven nest here, so their very telling call is always a big surprise around here. Today I was lucky to first hear and then spot one. It seemed to be playing, because its flight was really acrobatic, but I've not been able to see any other.

 

[Ries]

Today I really enjoyed a male hen harrier flying by, hadn't seen one for quite some time. Four tree sparrows were a nice surprise too. And a very nice timing was an osprey flying by and catching a fish from a small lake, just when I arrived and was getting my scope out to scan some ducks. A perched calling yellowhammer, beautiful yellow and streaked in late afternoon light, topped off the day Great to have a week off from work and have a few days of nice weather to get out in nature. In weekends I'm often too tired or weather sucks, and it's awesome quiet in nature during working days!

 

[Ries]

Oh, and saw my first siskin of this season, no redwing yet

 

[Foss]

Walking the beach at the base of a cliff in San Diego CA this morning I watched a peregrine falcon leave its perch, circle overhead a couple times, and fly off. At 150 feet away, using 8x binoculars, it looked close! Beautiful bird.

 

[Tero]

I had two sets of binoculars and a scope and a camera, but it was not a spectacular day. I had nice views of a harrier, camera not handy. The lake I went to is not huge but ducks were far and there were no loons of grebes to photograph. Plenty of coots and pied billed grebes, a bunch of cormorants drying their wings. I've taken all the photos of those I will ever need. 3

 

[Ries]

I saw a hen harrier and a marsh harrier, both females, fight/chase eachother. Fantastic to see the size difference like that!

 

[PhilR.]

Was out on the back patio breaking in a new NL, and found a yellow-bellied sapsucker. It was a small surprise because there aren’t many birds around here this time of year, and they are rather uncommon here at any time of year.

 

[chill6x6]

Was out on the back patio breaking in a new NL, and found a yellow-bellied sapsucker. It was a small surprise because there aren’t many birds around here this time of year, and they are rather uncommon here at any time of year.

Great bird! They are one that winters here. One of the first to get here and one of the last to leave. They have an easy call to recognize...kind of a "squeak." It's a great day birding when I can see all of our woodpeckers here...the sapsucker, hairy, downy, flicker, red bellied, red headed, and pileated.

 

[Patudo]

Walking the beach at the base of a cliff in San Diego CA this morning I watched a peregrine falcon leave its perch, circle overhead a couple times, and fly off. At 150 feet away, using 8x binoculars, it looked close! Beautiful bird.

Nice! That is what my own birding is heavily focused on (excuse the pun). From what I've read, the low cliffs overlooking the La Jolla beaches sound like one of the world's best locations to observe peregrine behaviour. The photos that guys like Will Sooter have captured are nothing short of amazing. I get to watch the pairs in my city quite a bit, but you lose them all too easily to all the high buildings. High cliff areas, like the famous Seven Sisters on the English south coast, can be just as frustrating.

I've always sworn that when I make that US road trip (which I'm not sure I ever will now, thanks to the Chinese virus), I need to make sure I spend a week or so in your area. One bonus to watching them somewhere like La Jolla is that even if the birds are sitting around doing bugger all like they all too often do, there should be no shortage of (ahem) alternative targets... o