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

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  • jayne lee wilson
    Banned
    • Jul 2011
    • 10711

    Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
    I hadn't realised that the wren is Britain's commonest bird - can you believe that?? It came up on one of those irritating pre-ad break questionnaires yesterday.
    That looks a little dubious to me, despite some BTO Estimates in support. The Wren never comes very high on the RSPB Annual watch....


    Despite seeming shy and skulking they allow close approach in some locations, or don't seem to notice if you are nearby; but I never see more than two pairs here - more importantly, never hear more than two or three singing males, here or in a given area of local woods (no, still can't back get to them yet...)

    In Winter they can form surprisingly big communal roosts. 10 or 20 can cram into a single nest box or loftspace sometimes, for warmth; I think the biggest recorded was 61! (Norfolk 1969).
    Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 25-02-21, 19:25.

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    • cloughie
      Full Member
      • Dec 2011
      • 22115

      Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
      That looks a little dubious to me, despite some BTO Estimates in support. The Wren never comes very high on the RSPB Annual watch....


      Despite seeming shy and skulking they allow close approach in some locations, or don't seem to notice if you are nearby; but I never see more than two pairs here - more importantly, never hear more than two or three singing males, here or in a given area of local woods (no, still can't back get to them yet...)

      In Winter they can form surprisingly big communal roosts. 10 or 20 can cram into a single nest box or loftspace sometimes, for warmth; I think the biggest recorded was 61! (Norfolk 1969).
      I would believe it - they are very small and though I see one regularly in the garden I often wonder - is it the same one? Their size has the great advantage of hiding without being seen.

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      • Serial_Apologist
        Full Member
        • Dec 2010
        • 37617

        Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post

        In Winter they can form surprisingly big communal roosts. 10 or 20 can cram into a single nest box or loftspace sometimes, for warmth; I think the biggest recorded was 61! (Norfolk 1969).
        You've reminded me that another of those ad break questionnaires that came up was: what is the record for the maximum number of people to be crammed into a Mini? I didn't bother to finish my ad break ablutions in time to find out.

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        • Bryn
          Banned
          • Mar 2007
          • 24688

          Are wrens still as persecuted by children in Ireland at Christmas as they traditionally were?

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          • ardcarp
            Late member
            • Nov 2010
            • 11102

            I'd not heard of this barbaric 'Wren Day' before Bryn.

            Here's a Wiki article:



            It is with some relief that I read a 'fake wren' is used nowadays. One hopes.

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            • jayne lee wilson
              Banned
              • Jul 2011
              • 10711

              I think we all prefer them alive.....and how alive, pulsating with song!
              Wren song and call, birds singing and chirping in spring forest. A small bird with a loud sounds. Eurasian wren, Troglodytes troglodytes.


              The songster deftly steps aside to allow the beetle to pass by unhindered.......
              Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 26-02-21, 01:55.

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              • LezLee
                Full Member
                • Apr 2019
                • 634

                'My' wren woke me up at 6.30 this morning! Where does that big voice come from?

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                • oddoneout
                  Full Member
                  • Nov 2015
                  • 9150

                  During my morning wander round he garden just now I heard a lot of gull noise and looked up expecting to see one of the small peripatetic flocks we have here, but it was just a pair. The reason for the noise was a cruising buzzard which they were determinedly and loudly mobbing. It eventually cruised off 'their' patch and they shut up.

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                  • vinteuil
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 12797

                    Originally posted by ardcarp View Post
                    Don't suppose anyone's seen one of these in the back garden?

                    https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-last-sighting
                    ... nor yet one of these?




                    .

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                    • LezLee
                      Full Member
                      • Apr 2019
                      • 634

                      During the recent snow my sister had 11 red kites overflying her small container garden in Harrogate. There were about 6 inches of snow. How do the birds know there's any prey there?

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                      • jayne lee wilson
                        Banned
                        • Jul 2011
                        • 10711

                        Originally posted by LezLee View Post
                        During the recent snow my sister had 11 red kites overflying her small container garden in Harrogate. There were about 6 inches of snow. How do the birds know there's any prey there?
                        In very cold weather many birds, from Winter Thrushes to Birds of Prey, do move around the country quickly; as you imply, frozen winter landscapes offer little nourishment. Those Kites may have found the area fruitful in warmer times, or could have been hoping to scavenge off human waste...

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                        • oddoneout
                          Full Member
                          • Nov 2015
                          • 9150

                          Originally posted by LezLee View Post
                          During the recent snow my sister had 11 red kites overflying her small container garden in Harrogate. There were about 6 inches of snow. How do the birds know there's any prey there?
                          As carrion eaters they don't need prey as such, and may have learnt that human habitation is a possible food source. 11 at once would do a pretty good job of clearing snow away to get at anything on the ground I would think!

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                          • LezLee
                            Full Member
                            • Apr 2019
                            • 634

                            Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
                            In very cold weather many birds, from Winter Thrushes to Birds of Prey, do move around the country quickly; as you imply, frozen winter landscapes offer little nourishment. Those Kites may have found the area fruitful in warmer times, or could have been hoping to scavenge off human waste...
                            Yes you're right, it is their normal hunting ground.

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                            • ardcarp
                              Late member
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 11102

                              About skylarks:

                              Certainly earlier than last year, ardcarp. This morning I actually managed to see two of them flying in the sky, singing away - cheered the soul
                              Seen and heard on Dartmoor yesterday by one of my daughters. Obviously the recent cold snap didn't set back their routine! And it's fabulous weather in the SW now.

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                              • Dermot
                                Full Member
                                • Aug 2013
                                • 114

                                Originally posted by Bryn View Post
                                Are wrens still as persecuted by children in Ireland at Christmas as they traditionally were?
                                In the mid-nineteen fifties, on St. Stephen's Day on the South Circular Road in Dublin, local boys went collecting from door to door as wren boys. There was no wren, either live or artificial, involved. We dressed-up in our Christmas presents, which were invariably either a cowboy outfit, replete with six-shooter, or a Red Indian costume. When the woman of the house opened the front door, we chanted this refrain,

                                The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
                                St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze
                                Although she was small, her family was great
                                Come out young lady and give us a treat


                                We hoped to receive a penny, or at least a half-penny, from every house. We were the last boys to do this. By the start of the nineteen sixties, the tradition had died out.

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