While I had skimmed some of the posts on this thread so I was aware that such an app existed, it was only today after being shown by my aunt what the Merlin Bird ID app was like/could do that I decided to download it. It is very good.
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,,,,young Starlings are just hilarious blundering like toddlers onto the feeding table causing chaos....patience from older smaller/sleaker adultsbong chingComment
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....WOW 100% Mackerel sky WOW....bong chingComment
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The dunnocks and spadgers in my garden seem to have had a successful breeding session, judging by the numbers of rather wobbly semi-fluffy fledgelings bumbling around in the shrubs by the house. There are other baby birds down the other end of my patch, but it's a bit more difficult to identify them - the adult birds are more wary so even if the babies don't move away quickly the adults do.
Interesting to see that one of the two washing up bowls of water that I have got tucked in the border by the patio is very much favoured by both kinds of "little brown jobbies" over the larger dustbin lid birdbath in the open nearby. One of the bowls is full of plants so although there is access for drinking there isn't space for bathing. The other, beside it, I had to empty out a few weeks ago and apart from few bits of duckweed and the remnants of a decorative pot that didn't survive the winter, but makes an excellent bathing platform, is now just water. The pittosporum above it is constantly quivering with bathers coming and going.
The dustbin lid meets all the recommendations about siting etc, and is well used for bathing, but by the bigger birds such as blackbirds although the small birds may use it for a drink. I try to keep the water at a level (low) that deters woodpigeons bathing as they make such a godawful mess with that funny ghostdust their feathers shed, to say nothing of the size of their droppings.Comment
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In a recent trip to Scilly, Mrs A saw a few Red Kites. She began talking to s keen birder who said at least 10 had been sighted in the islands. (I wondered if the same one had been counted 10 times (!) but presumably 'professional' birders know what they are doing.) I think this is the first time Red Kites have been seen so far West in the UK, and we were also told they don't much like flying over water which makes their presence even more unusual. Mrs A also thought she saw a Black Kite but that would have been much more remarkable...but she was probably deceived by strong low light conditions.
Sadly cuckoos have declined drastically in just a few years in Scilly.Comment
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... the merlin sound app continues to amaze : on a brief walk round Wormwood Scrubbs yesterday it picked up black-cap, white-throat, black redstart, greenfinch - as well as the expected corvids, tits, parakeets...
This morning, (unaided by merlin) - sightings of grey wagtails and egrets by the Thames at Brentford Ait...
.Last edited by vinteuil; 25-06-23, 15:33.Comment
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On today's late-morning walk I heard: Eurasian Wren and Eurasian Blackbird (these two the most frequently heard throughout the walk) Mistle Thrush, Green Sandpiper (a kind of duck I think) Eurasian Magpie, Eurasian Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Long-tailed Tit, European Goldfinch, Common Chiffchaff, Eurasian Blue Tit, House Sparrow and Common Wood-Pigeon.
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You must have a very acute ear JK! Do you by any chance have that 'book' which has pictures and info about bird species, but also has a built-in speaker, so at the press of a button you can hear the songs and calls?Comment
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The species listed by JK are, with the possible exception of Green Sandpiper, common enough to be easily identified by sight or sound if one takes anything more than a passing interest in birds one might encounter on a London walk. The big surprise, for me, is the lack of a Robin.Originally posted by ardcarp View PostComment
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Joseph K is a very discriminating listener, I can vouch!Originally posted by ardcarp View Post
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Yes, the Merlin app of course.
I dunno why I didn't catch any Robins singing today...
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Don't robins tend to sing more "out of season"?Originally posted by Joseph K View PostYes, the Merlin app of course. I dunno why I didn't catch any Robins singing today...Comment
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That tends to be late summer/very early autumn. This time of year they still go at it hammer and tongs.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostComment
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