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

[Vox Humana]

There was also news of an albino robin being sighted in Devon - so they can presumably expect hoardes of twitchers to descend on the area.

I doubt it. It's nowhere near remarkable enough. Plus it's been around for four years, so anyone who wanted to see it will have done so already. There was a similar bird on the Camel Estuary (I think it was) a couple of years ago.

[ardcarp]

Yes, and I guess a genetic mutation isn't as 'collectable' to a twitcher as a species rarely seem...eg blown off course and landing in the UK.

[Bryn]

I doubt it. It's nowhere near remarkable enough. Plus it's been around for four years, so anyone who wanted to see it will have done so already. There was a similar bird on the Camel Estuary (I think it was) a couple of years ago.

Yes, albinism. total or partial, is not that uncommon in various thrush species. I guess it is most noticeable in Blackbirds.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'll state the obvious. Birds...Peckham?

I'll get me coat.

And I'll send you the bill!

[Bryn]

And I'll send you the bill!

In response to the order, eh?

[Vox Humana]

Yes, and I guess a genetic mutation isn't as 'collectable' to a twitcher as a species rarely seem...eg blown off course and landing in the UK.

Indeed. I believe the bird news services that broadcast rarity sightings are declining to put out any news where it is obvious that the observer has travelled to see the bird in question. That said, it does seem that some people are interpreting the term "local exercise" rather liberally. Fair enough if you don't get in a car and don't come across anyone else, I suppose. That said, it's amazing what people are seeing from their gardens - a surprising number of White-tailed Eagles, of all things.

[jayne lee wilson]

Among the less usual, I love the Nuthatch's rippling trilling almost one-note song....playing now in the garden.... not the Song Thrush's varianti-virtuoso, but a lovely soothing mellowness to it.... they only came here in 2011, another diffuser from those local woods....

[Bryn]

On my trip down to the local pharmacy, I was pleased to pass by a stretch of garden hedges thronging with House Sparrows. Both Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were to be heard as I headed over the mixed woodland hill on the way back. Phew, it was hot though.

[ardcarp]

A dipper was plying his trade on our local stream. We see one every year, but today was our first sighting of 2020.
Apparently a spoonbill was seen on the local wetlands, but didn't stay for long.

[gradus]

Delighted to have been visited by two long-tailed tits this morning pecking around an apple tree. I don't see them in our garden very often, nor for that matter chaffinches, bullfinches or greenfinches, all of whom were a common sight a few years ago.

[Vox Humana]

We have a pair of House Sparrows nest-building in our roof. That's a first for us.

[Jonathan]

I've decided to try and photograph all the species of birds we get in our tiny garden.

[oddoneout]

We have a pair of House Sparrows nest-building in our roof. That's a first for us.

Starlings have got into my roof again. The first indication was piles of dried stems and such like on the doormat. Previously they've moved in above the bedroom window, this time it's above the front door, and the mat is beginning to suffer as they come and go. It's probably only a matter of time before it's me rather than the mat - and probably when I'm in a hurry to be elsewhere!

[ardcarp]

I've decided to try and photograph all the species of birds we get in our tiny garden.

Hope you'll post them up here!

I love the Nuthatch's rippling trilling almost one-note song....playing now in the garden.

My sister who lives in Norway and (I'm sure she won't mind my saying) not a bird-savvy person, phoned to say she'd seen 'a tiny woodpecker-like bird' on a tree in her garden. We thought a nuthatch was the most likely candidate though not much like a woodpecker apart from being colourful. We sent her a picture of one and she confirmed that's what is was. Spettmeis in Norwegian.

[oddoneout]

Hope you'll post them up here!



My sister who lives in Norway and (I'm sure she won't mind my saying) not a bird-savvy person, phoned to say she'd seen 'a tiny woodpecker-like bird' on a tree in her garden. We thought a nuthatch was the most likely candidate though not much like a woodpecker apart from being colourful. We sent her a picture of one and she confirmed that's what is was. Spettmeis in Norwegian.

The way it clings to a tree trunk is rather woodpecker-like.