Originally posted by Richard Tarleton
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What birds (are you/have you been) watching? What birds have been watching you?
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Originally posted by Dave2002 View PostI'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.
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Richard Tarleton
Originally posted by Dave2002 View PostOK - so my original guess of swift looks to have been the most likely one after all. Thanks. It was solitary, as far as I could see, very fast, and darted back and forth without landing anywhere near me. I wasn't sure if they frequent riversides.
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Richard Tarleton
Originally posted by Pabmusic View PostNo - Richad T. might have it (above). They might be a separate species convergent upon hummingbirds. Mrs Pabs calls them hummingbirds, though. They may be yellow-bellied flowerpeckers (there seem to be a lots of types of flowerpecker here).
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Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View PostYes, sunbirds rather than hummingbirds....but very similar....
They seem to be Cinnyris jugularis, a passerine!Last edited by Pabmusic; 18-07-14, 11:44.
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Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View PostThey never land - ever - except at their nests during the nesting season - and feed on aerial plankton. Very much like an aerial version of a fish.
"aerial plankton"= flies, midges, gnats, mosquitos?
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Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View PostThey never land - ever - except at their nests during the nesting season - and feed on aerial plankton. Very much like an aerial version of a fish.
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Back in France where fledgling swifts have discovered that the big chestnut beams under the eaves are a good place to build up strength before the next flying lesson. A row of little heads peeking out while the parents swoop agitatedly around one's head. The swifts were also in action yesterday harrying one of the local pair of short-toed eagles which was spiralling effortlessly upwards with a sizeable snake in its talons.
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Richard Tarleton
Originally posted by HighlandDougie View Postharrying one of the local pair of short-toed eagles which was spiralling effortlessly upwards with a sizeable snake in its talons.
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Anna
Just to return briefly to Swifts, the RSPB say they are on the Amber list and need people to help in sighting surveys, which is here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/thingstodo/surveys/swifts/
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Originally posted by Anna View PostJust to return briefly to Swifts, the RSPB say they are on the Amber list and need people to help in sighting surveys, which is here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/thingstodo/surveys/swifts/
Garden - very settled now. Just Corby the Crow (with a few local, unnamed & unwelcome competitors) the friendly Feral and Wood Pigeons, and those endless wild parties of young tits, who are getting through dispensers-full of seeds and fatballs at an alarming rate. Bloody teenagers. Suet lasting a bit longer now though so the GS Woodpeckers are happy. Always that same threesome at daybreak - the Wren, his Echo and the distant, quieter, Chiffchaff.
That Buzzard from a few weeks ago remains the only sighting this year... still we have Red & Grey Squirrels, and the Bats and Hedgepigs out each night.
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Originally posted by Anna View PostJust to return briefly to Swifts, the RSPB say they are on the Amber list and need people to help in sighting surveys, which is here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/thingstodo/surveys/swifts/
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