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

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  • Joseph K
    Banned
    • Oct 2017
    • 7765

    My mum recently bought a slice of coconut with fat on it (something like that anyway) to put on the bird feeding table. It's attracted bigger birds than we're used to - starlings, my mum said. She's not so keen, and I sort of feel like that too, but perversely I also quite like how unsettled I can be by these things. It's novel, anyway.

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    • Vox Humana
      Full Member
      • Dec 2012
      • 1248

      Originally posted by Joseph K View Post
      My mum recently bought a slice of coconut with fat on it (something like that anyway) to put on the bird feeding table. It's attracted bigger birds than we're used to - starlings, my mum said. She's not so keen, and I sort of feel like that too, but perversely I also quite like how unsettled I can be by these things. It's novel, anyway.
      Starlings are greedy things and will clear a bird table in no time. They are very characterful birds, though, and it's quite fun to watch them squabbling. Plus your mum is doing them a good turn as Starlings are declining and need all the help they can get.

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      • Joseph K
        Banned
        • Oct 2017
        • 7765

        Originally posted by Vox Humana View Post
        Starlings are greedy things and will clear a bird table in no time. They are very characterful birds, though, and it's quite fun to watch them squabbling. Plus your mum is doing them a good turn as Starlings are declining and need all the help they can get.

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        • Mal
          Full Member
          • Dec 2016
          • 892

          A large flock of starlings descended on my cul de sac a few days ago; the neighbours cat did a really bad job of stalking them, they were on the roof tops before it started its charge! Me and the starlings were laughing at it as it walked away in a huff...

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          • Rjw
            Full Member
            • Oct 2012
            • 117

            Went to Puddletown forest to listen to and watch the nightjars.

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            • cloughie
              Full Member
              • Dec 2011
              • 22115

              Originally posted by Mal View Post
              A large flock of starlings descended on my cul de sac a few days ago; the neighbours cat did a really bad job of stalking them, they were on the roof tops before it started its charge! Me and the starlings were laughing at it as it walked away in a huff...
              It was probably wise not to pounce earlier - in years gone by one of our cats caught a starling and even if she had thought of devouring it, was viciously mobbed by the flock, and retired to a safe spot!

              On nightjars -as a child, probably because of the not very good picture in my bird book I grew up thinking nightjar to be a very ugly bird! Only recently did I realise that the ‘whip-poor-will’ in such songs as ‘My blue heaven’ and ‘I’m so lonesome I could cry’ is in fact an American Nightjar.

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              • ardcarp
                Late member
                • Nov 2010
                • 11102

                Went to Puddletown forest to listen to and watch the nightjars.
                Did you wear white hats to trick them out of the woods?

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                • Padraig
                  Full Member
                  • Feb 2013
                  • 4231

                  A good news story.



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                  • Bryn
                    Banned
                    • Mar 2007
                    • 24688

                    Searching for reports of Red Kites taking new-born lambs, I found a disputed claim but further on in the same thread I found this. Wow!

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                    • Richard Tarleton

                      Red kite males have a weight of 800–1200 g, and females 1000–1300 g. A newborn lamb is likely to be at least twice the bodyweight of a kite.... Feeding on a dead or stillborn one, possibly.

                      I'm sceptical about that video......

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                      • Bryn
                        Banned
                        • Mar 2007
                        • 24688

                        Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                        Red kite males have a weight of 800–1200 g, and females 1000–1300 g. A newborn lamb is likely to be at least twice the bodyweight of a kite.... Feeding on a dead or stillborn one, possibly.

                        I'm sceptical about that video......
                        As am I, but thought it worth linking to, anyway. The thread with with the claim re. Red Kites and lambs is this one: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index....-lambs.114572/

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                        • Vox Humana
                          Full Member
                          • Dec 2012
                          • 1248

                          Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                          I'm sceptical about that video......
                          Quite right too. It's a fake.

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                          • Bryn
                            Banned
                            • Mar 2007
                            • 24688

                            How about today's story?

                            Gizmo, the four-year-old miniature pooch whose breed only grows to around nine inches high, has not been seen since he was carried off by the scruff of the neck

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                            • Richard Tarleton

                              Originally posted by Bryn View Post
                              Well...er...how about it?

                              I heard the interview on "Today" this morning.

                              I think it's likely that gulls are likely to judge their prey on grounds of size, rather than distinguishing between "small wild mammal" and "pet, to be avoided"...... Just as long as nobody is advocating a cull on the strength of this (likewise the, rare, kite story). Unfortunately in this overcrowded country there's just so little space for wildlife, we force it into our surroundings by our actions (gulls forage in towns partly as a result of declining fish stocks, and partly because we leave so much food for them - and foxes - lying about)

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                              • Bryn
                                Banned
                                • Mar 2007
                                • 24688

                                Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                                Well...er...how about it?

                                I heard the interview on "Today" this morning.

                                I think it's likely that gulls are likely to judge their prey on grounds of size, rather than distinguishing between "small wild mammal" and "pet, to be avoided"...... Just as long as nobody is advocating a cull on the strength of this (likewise the, rare, kite story). Unfortunately in this overcrowded country there's just so little space for wildlife, we force it into our surroundings by our actions (gulls forage in towns partly as a result of declining fish stocks, and partly because we leave so much food for them - and foxes - lying about)

                                https://www.bto.org/understanding-bi...ck-backed-gull
                                Hmm. I have to admit that I am not that opposed to culling when it comes to anthropogenically modified wolves.

                                (Perhaps my position on such matters might be somewhat clarified if I mention that I'm an RSPB Life Fellow.)

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