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

[amateur51]

Nice bit of film from the RSPB Community website, though this one not giving it quite all
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a lovely film, and I particularly enjoyed the Denis Healey-style eyebrows - do all wrens sport them?

[Richard Tarleton]

a lovely film, and I particularly enjoyed the Denis Healey-style eyebrows - do all wrens sport them?

They do indeed - the technical term being supercilium/a

[arancie33]

In the space of ten minutes, while enjoying a post-prandial cuppa, we watched a juvenile thrush, ditto blackbird, a chaffinch, a bullfinch and assorted sparrows. The garden has rather grown over the last couple of months and is decidedly wildlife friendly now. So, much closer to the Amazon jungle than the cottage garden it was meant to be.:rolleyes:

[Anna]

Exciting times here! I was in the petshop at the weekend looking at various feeders and seeds, dithered over nigers, decided not to as I never get goldfinches and - Sod’s Law in action – later that very afternoon a goldfinch spent a long time on a branch of the greengage tree pecking away, presumably grubs/insects.

Tuesday afternoon, after a very sunny and warm day, a sudden flock of martins swooping and feeding above an unenclosed area of newly mown grass, so fast and so many of them it was amazing (I do see them but never in such numbers) In fact, if anyone had wanted to imagine they were Tippi Hedren it would have been ideal to have taken a video selfie! They stayed for such a long time that I wondered if it was the day the flying ants hatched out. All the while two buzzards circling high up in the thermals.

Last night, around 11pm, sound of an owl, which is quite a regular occurrence, then all of a sudden all hell let loose and it seems a fight was taking place, then it ended and one flew past the window. I checked calls on various owl sites and it was definitely a tawny brawl, but would it be a dispute over prey or territory? It was taking place near a very large oak.

I’m definitely taking more notice of the birds since I joined this thread and, arancie, my overgrown patches of garden I justify to the neighbours as being unique wildlife habitat areas

[Richard Tarleton]

Exciting times here! Last night, around 11pm, sound of an owl, which is quite a regular occurrence, then all of a sudden all hell let loose and it seems a fight was taking place, then it ended and one flew past the window. I checked calls on various owl sites and it was definitely a tawny brawl, but would it be a dispute over prey or territory? It was taking place near a very large oak.

Was the noise just tawnies, Anna, or could there have been any "third party" birds involved? Roosting jackdaws for example. I'm just thinking of the racket when the buzzard visits our jackdaws.

[ardcarp]

a goldfinch spent a long time on a branch of the greengage tree pecking away, presumably grubs/insects.

Anna, I think goldfinches do take the occasional insect, but their main diet is seeds and vegetation. They are quite fond of the young buds and maybe tiny developing fruits of fruit trees, so I guess your greengages might have been thinned a bit. BTW, bullfinches are the worst in this respect.

[Lento]

Just enjoying the opening bars of Gazza Ladra when one dutifully appeared on the lawn. I know these are clever birds, but....

[Anna]

Was the noise just tawnies, Anna, or could there have been any "third party" birds involved? Roosting jackdaws for example. I'm just thinking of the racket when the buzzard visits our jackdaws.

I only heard owls although there are magpies nesting near to the oak (where it seems the commotion was coming from) but their young are no longer in the nest. Yesterday I saw flying ants hatching out and suprisingly (to me anyway) some sparrows flying through them to grab a mouthful, also later on a green woodpecker busily feeding on presumably ants in the grass. Flying ants always make me feel so itchy ..... !

[Dave2002]

Recent trips to watery areas - a heron (grey?) a week ago in a lake. Unfortunately I was unable to photograph it in flight - twice!

Yesterday, along the Thames near Kingston saw what I thought might have been a swift, but it may have been a martin. Very fast, highly manoeuvrable, and with very curved wings and a forked tail. There just seemed to be one. I checked out the birds in that area, and it was perhaps more likely to be a martin - http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/List_...sGreaterLondon

[Pabmusic]

There's at least a pair of these that come right to my study window-sill. They are olive-backed hummingbirds and they like the nectar from the gumamela (hibiscus) that are plentiful in our garden:

[Richard Tarleton]

Recent trips to watery areas - a heron (grey?) a week ago in a lake. Unfortunately I was unable to photograph it in flight - twice!

Yesterday, along the Thames near Kingston saw what I thought might have been a swift, but it may have been a martin. Very fast, highly manoeuvrable, and with very curved wings and a forked tail. There just seemed to be one. I checked out the birds in that area, and it was perhaps more likely to be a martin - http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/List_...sGreaterLondon

Dave, if you were struck by the curvature of the wings I'd venture to suggest swift - at a distance they can look like just a pair of long curved wings stuck together, as befits a bird that spends its life on the wing. House martins' wings look short and stubby in flight by comparison. Useful comparison images here - scroll down rh column.

You can see swifts anywhere (so don't be guided by that list, it's only a selection) and they come and go on the edge of weather fronts eg under current conditions.

And yes grey heron - youngsters at this time of year are greyer than their parents, lacking the contrasting black and white. If you saw any other species of heron it's time to get excited

[Pabmusic]

These are our most common neognathaen dinosaurs (birds, that is). I don't suppose you'll know these, which are called maya:

[Bryn]

These are our most common neognathaen dinosaurs (birds, that is). I don't suppose you'll know these, which are called maya:

Seen one Passerine, you seen 'em all, innit?

[Richard Tarleton]

These are our most common neognathaen dinosaurs (birds, that is). I don't suppose you'll know these, which are called maya:

aka Tree sparrow Passer montanus, which has an impressive global distribution - I didn't realise you'd have had them there Pabs. Members of the weaver bird family?

Lovely [sun, rather than humming]bird, a nice example of convergent evolution (hummingbirds in Americas, honeyeaters in Australasia) - I shouldn't think you get much work done. I met hummingbirds in W Mexico on a wildlife project.

[Dave2002]

There's at least a pair of these that come right to my study window-sill. They are olive-backed hummingbirds and they like the nectar from the gumamela (hibiscus) that are plentiful in our garden:

I'm surprised that a hummingbird is perching. I used to work in an office with a bottle brush tree/bush outside, and there were very frequently hummingbirds outside - very small they were - but I can't remember ever seeing one settle.