What birds (are you/have you been) watching? What birds have been watching you?

[Mal]

Not much squabbling here...how about 'a huddle' ?

A collection of small, cute bird seem to be (mostly) called a 'charm' (goldfinch, hummingbird, finch... though we have 'a herd of wrens'...) Maybe this should change by mood; if they start chasing geese, like their dad, I'll be calling them a 'battery', or if things get really bad a 'murder'.

[gradus]

In the last couple of days hawks seem to be zooming around the lanes hereabouts, invariably too fast for this inexpert bird-identifier to identify.

[Pulcinella]

Saw a swan sitting on a nest in my local park today. Hopefully a flock of cygnets soon! (Or is it a squabble of cygnets?)

No sign of offspring from our two local swans yet, but surely they could eventually become a cygnet ring if they swam nicely together in a circle?

The heron seems to have frightened the Canada geese away for a while: the heron is temporarily master of the lake, whereas the wretched geese are feeding on the newly moistened grass surrounding it.

[Pulcinella]

New (to me, and perhaps the lake too) sighting on one of our estate's balancing lakes (part of the Foss flood defence scheme): what looks to be a common pochard!

[Richard Tarleton]

Interesting - a male? Pochards have declined drastically as a wintering species (as they are best known) - some breeding gains, mostly in eastern lowland England and in new habitats, sparser up your way but as the Atlas says "Some apparent gains could also involve late-departing winter visitors falsely recorded in the possible breeding category..." - so keep an eye on it!

[Pulcinella]

Interesting - a male? Pochards have declined drastically as a wintering species (as they are best known) - some breeding gains, mostly in eastern lowland England and in new habitats, sparser up your way but as the Atlas says "Some apparent gains could also involve late-departing winter visitors falsely recorded in the possible breeding category..." - so keep an eye on it!

Yes; it was the colouring that helped me and my neighbours, who are closer to the lake and spotted it first, identify it.
I have no idea if there is a larger population on the university lakes, which are nearby.
I'll see if I can find out.

[gurnemanz]

The Birds have got a new single out.

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes; it was the colouring that helped me and my neighbours, who are closer to the lake and spotted it first, identify it.
I have no idea if there is a larger population on the university lakes, which are nearby.
I'll see if I can find out.

About 20,000 have disappeared from (i.e. not returned to winter at) Lough Neagh....21% contraction in winter range in Britain and Ireland....contraction most notable in Ireland, reasons not understood. But some breeding gains in England, with creation of new wetlands.

[doversoul1]

We’ve had pheasants in the garden for some ten years now. This year/season, they seem to be monogamous, and the pair seem to be living in the garden. It will be nice to see if they hatch chicks but on the other hand, we have a self-appointed rabbit warden in the shape of a neighbour’s cat which won’t make a good nursery for the pheasants. We’ll see.

[Serial_Apologist]

We’ve had pheasants in the garden for some ten years now. This year/season, they seem to be monogamous, and the pair seem to be living in the garden. It will be nice to see if they hatch chicks but on the other hand, we have a self-appointed rabbit warden in the shape of a neighbour’s cat which won’t make a good nursery for the pheasants. We’ll see.

I would imagine that a pheasant, particularly a pair of them, could put up quite a good fight against a rogue cat, dovers!

I once hit a pheasant, driving down an Essex country lane. I heard, and felt the thump. Horrified, I glanced in the rear view mirror, and saw it running off into the field on my left.

[Vox Humana]

I once hit a pheasant, driving down an Essex country lane. I heard, and felt the thump. Horrified, I glanced in the rear view mirror, and saw it running off into the field on my left.

When I was young my father would always floor the accelerator whenever he encountered a pheasant in a country lane. He never did succeed in hitting one. Mind you, he was driving one of these, which might explain it.

[vinteuil]

.

... swifts!!!

Always a good day, the first swifts seen of the year.

These were swooping up Wood Lane north from Shepherd's Bush Green.



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[Serial_Apologist]

.

... swifts!!!

Always a good day, the first swifts seen of the year.

These were swooping up Wood Lane north from Shepherd's Bush Green.



.

It's amazing to think that as recently as the 1920s, the countryside started thereabouts; their ancestors would have been seeking out places to make their homes back then.

[HighlandDougie]

And, admittedly en France, a few hundred kilometres south of England, the first cuckoos heard this year. I think at least two, maybe three, judging from where the calls seemed to be emanating. One bird, which I've never heard here - we may be too high - is a nightingale. This article about them was quite cheering:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/13/nightingales-snubbing-london-for-berlin-tiegarten-germany

[oddoneout]

I would imagine that a pheasant, particularly a pair of them, could put up quite a good fight against a rogue cat, dovers!

I once hit a pheasant, driving down an Essex country lane. I heard, and felt the thump. Horrified, I glanced in the rear view mirror, and saw it running off into the field on my left.

The female might if her nest/brood was threatened, but I'm not convinced, remembering how the peasants on the allotment used to behave. The males are gormless and will run away. Earlier this year I watched the temporarily resident rat chase and harass a cock pheasant until it eventually took flight.Partridges were another matter altogether, and I had a boot and a hand attacked on separate occasions when I unwittingly disturbed a sitting hen.
My experience of a pheasant strike was driving down a narrow deeply banked lane and encountering a cock pheasant doing a road runner down the middle. I dawdled along until he launched and landed in the field at the top of the bank. As I picked up speed a bit and drove off he decided to half run half fly back down into the road under my bumper with an almighty bang. I couldn't stop and investigate as there was one of the manic lorries that used that road bearing down on me, but when I pulled into the stable yard a couple of minutes later there was a shriek of horror from one of the girls, and one of the grooms just looked in astonishment. There were feathers and body parts jammed into the front grille, parts of the wheel arch and general underparts of the car. I removed the obviously visible bits and borrowed the yard's hosepipe before driving home. I was just thankful it hadn't gone into the windscreen.