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

[jayne lee wilson]

You haven't got a thing about nuthatches by any chance, Jayne?

Gorgeous colours, hauntingly musical calls, latecomers locally (2011)....a lovely mover......whats not to love....

I haven't seen or heard a Treecreeper locally for a few years now.... that would be a joyful rapprochement too...

[ardcarp]

If it's not too commonplace to talk about robins, I'd just mention a couple of things seen in this past week of enforced gardening. (I can't tell whether it's the same robin or different ones, as we have a few in our patch, but I'll use 'he'.) I've been digging our veg plot little by little. Of course he hops around hoping I'll turn up some interesting creepy-crawlies. However, I've noticed that he appears before I start digging and follows me in fits and starts up the garden. He then perches on a bush near the plot, as if to say, "Come on mate, get started". Is this apparently learned behaviour unusual for a robin? The other thing which Mrs A and I witnessed yesterday was his attempt to get a drink from one of our water butts. (It had filled up to about 9" below the brim in the first rain for weeks.) The butt is circular with a diameter of less than 2 feet. He perched on the edge, looked at the water then fluttered down and flew straight out again. Given that he must have been momentarily surrounded by the walls of the butt without much room to manoeuvre, we were quite impressed.

[jayne lee wilson]

I was surprised to see a young Robin, this years' bird and fully-fledged, two days ago. The usual very streaky plumage but with a hint of a red breast beginning.....brave birds to have nested so early in this area (must have been mid-March or earlier given this bird's appearance/independence) in a cold Spring....!

[oddoneout]

If it's not too commonplace to talk about robins, I'd just mention a couple of things seen in this past week of enforced gardening. (I can't tell whether it's the same robin or different ones, as we have a few in our patch, but I'll use 'he'.) I've been digging our veg plot little by little. Of course he hops around hoping I'll turn up some interesting creepy-crawlies. However, I've noticed that he appears before I start digging and follows me in fits and starts up the garden. He then perches on a bush near the plot, as if to say, "Come on mate, get started". Is this apparently learned behaviour unusual for a robin? The other thing which Mrs A and I witnessed yesterday was his attempt to get a drink from one of our water butts. (It had filled up to about 9" below the brim in the first rain for weeks.) The butt is circular with a diameter of less than 2 feet. He perched on the edge, looked at the water then fluttered down and flew straight out again. Given that he must have been momentarily surrounded by the walls of the butt without much room to manoeuvre, we were quite impressed.

During my allotment years I had a couple of similarly 'bossy' robins. One would start agitating as soon as I came onto the plot if s/he was around, the other would do so once I had opened the shed, and if I was just there for produce gathering or other non-cultivating activity would scold and then often as not go away.
A blackbird in my garden has taken up the 'under the feet' role that robins more usually adopt. Being bigger and black makes it a less risky behaviour - except when it's grubbing around behind me and I overbalance from squatting and sit down suddenly...Missed by about 2" - bird not bothered, just jumped sideways and then came back again. - I was rather more bothered.

[Vox Humana]

However, I've noticed that he appears before I start digging and follows me in fits and starts up the garden. He then perches on a bush near the plot, as if to say, "Come on mate, get started". Is this apparently learned behaviour unusual for a robin?

Robins are quite well known for exploiting humans for the food they unearth. Their 'friendly' image is partly due to this, but also partly due to their boldness in protecting their territories. Most of the time they are not being friendly but are trying to warn us off! When Mrs Humana and I were in New Zealand a couple of years ago we were intrigued to find that both the North Island and South Island Robins (two different species, a little bigger than our Robins but not related to them) were very tame indeed, having learnt that human shoes often scrape up edible things in the ground. we could often make one appear just by scraping the earth. Quite fearless, they were perfectly capable of walking over our shoes. It must be a behaviour learnt comparatively recently on the evolutionary scale since NZ has no native mammals at all, the nearest things being various types of lizard.

[Triforium]

Cornysh had it all wrong - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Un5RO86bzo

[cloughie]

Cornysh had it all wrong - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Un5RO86bzo

I thought for a moment you said the Cornish had it all wrong - fighting talk down here !

[ardcarp]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdCUyZ6PeF0

This version (Vox Luminis) is heaps better than the Tallis Scholars. And one is wearing a robin-coloured anorak!

[Vox Humana]

Too many duff notes in the Tallis Scholars (unusual for them) and I dislike the acoustic of Vox Luminis. This is ancient version is still the one for me, not least because it features the incomparable Ian Partridge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsRMmtPqXYI

[ardcarp]

Ah. That takes me back. Superb sensitive singing. Yes that TS version goes flat starting with the bass entry. As you say, below their usual standard and odd that it got past their record producer.

[ardcarp]

Robin update. He appeared as I appeared in the garden today. The snag is, I was wielding a paintbrush and intent on tarting up the fascia boards on our house. It took my feathered fried a couple of hours to twig that this particular activity wasn't turning up any worms. (Am I being anthropomorphic?)

[gradus]

The local paper has a story today of someone spotting a white-tailed eagle over Ipswich, apparently it was seen as far as the Norfolk border before returning south.

[ardcarp]

What a co-incidence. 'Erne' was the answer to a crossword clue I was doing yesterday. I knew it was a bird, but had to look up what sort. European white-tailed eagle. Haliaeetus albicilla

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/april/white-tailed-eagles-could-return-to-england.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw1v_0BRAkEiwALFkj5vudTY6Nk7FQKNrfvjpgQsNl7PoB6n0xBWT_7-2zIOCstWM618uHVRoCF-cQAvD_BwE

[LezLee]

What a co-incidence. 'Erne' was the answer to a crossword clue I was doing yesterday. I knew it was a bird, but had to look up what sort. European white-tailed eagle. Haliaeetus albicilla

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/...RoCF-cQAvD_BwE

‘Erne’ is one of those words always handy for crosswords, like ‘large woody plant’ always being ‘tree’!

[LezLee]

Robin update. He appeared as I appeared in the garden today. The snag is, I was wielding a paintbrush and intent on tarting up the fascia boards on our house. It took my feathered fried a couple of hours to twig that this particular activity wasn't turning up any worms. (Am I being anthropomorphic?)

Watch out for local reports of a multicoloured robin.