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

[kernelbogey]

Buzzards sometimes 'mew'. I've never worked out why sometimes they do and more often they don't.

My mate Wynn, who has had his eyes on buzzards for several decades, writes

I think I've observed, or heard, buzzards mewing when they are training juveniles - sort of encouraging noises, though there may be more to it.

I've challenged him to say a bit more. But see also next post.

[kernelbogey]

Apparently there was a R4 nature programme in the last week or so about bird calls and their purposes. In particular, that their song includes microtones not audible to humans.

This may be well known to regulars on this thread. I haven't tried (as yet) to trace the programme but others may know (and post) more.

[Vox Humana]

Buzzards sometimes 'mew'. I've never worked out why sometimes they do and more often they don't.

This is their normal contact call, e.g. between paired birds. Their courtship call is similar and often uttered while circling. There's also a shortened version which they use as an alarm call. I guess they only 'talk' when they have something that needs saying.

[oddoneout]

Hearing the 'mew' is the first indication often that the local group, or parts thereof, is flying, although the sound does sometimes come from an individual. It's easier to pick out when there aren't seagulls about...
Oystercatchers have been doing their nocturnal burbling recently - sometimes making for a different dawn chorus before the blackbirds get going. I was wondering whether it was the resident town birds flying out to the coast to feed, or others coming inland.
The wood pigeons have started their defoliation of the cherry trees. I first noticed this behaviour about 10 years ago and still wonder why. It's the leaves they are after, usually at bud-burst stage, but last year I noticed that they continued to eat the leaves for quite some time after the first flush. It doesn't do the trees much good, creating bald patches and sometimes broken twigs where the great fat lumps try to get at the ends of small branches.

[gradus]

Sometimes hear buzzards mewing to each other from the trees beyond the allotments but noisier by far are the green woodpeckers.

[DracoM]

Lot of owls out tonight. Littles.
And earlier today I THOUGHT I saw my first swallow of the year....!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For some reason, this Thread had been closed overnight - I don't know why. Apologies to anyone who had hoped to post here - service as close to "normal" as we get hereabouts is now resumed.

[Richard Tarleton]

For some reason, this Thread had been closed overnight - I don't know why. Apologies to anyone who had hoped to post here - service as close to "normal" as we get hereabouts is now resumed.

Thank you ferney!

My first wheatears (at last) today, plus continental white wagtails.

[doversoul1]

A dozen (approx.) yellowhammers looking busy and there were a couple of coal tits in the wild plum tree the other day.

Do other members have a pair of mallard ducks visiting their garden this time of the year? We have a small pond but they don’t seem to be interested in nesting there.

[Richard Tarleton]

A dozen (approx.) yellowhammers looking busy and there were a couple of coal tits in the wild plum tree the other day.

Do other members have a pair of mallard ducks visiting their garden this time of the year? We have a small pond but they don’t seem to be interested in nesting there.

Yes! Our neighbour's pond is mostly devoid of vegetation, but the mallards seem to like posing on it. They have nested by the stream a little further inland in past years, I've seen the female walking the ducklings downstream through our garden.

[HighlandDougie]

A dozen (approx.) yellowhammers looking busy and there were a couple of coal tits in the wild plum tree the other day.

Do other members have a pair of mallard ducks visiting their garden this time of the year? We have a small pond but they don’t seem to be interested in nesting there.

Two nests this year: one cunningly concealed among the trilliums in the back garden and the other next to the front door of my neighbour’s house in this old farm steading. That is a favourite spot where I once happened to witness by chance the eggs being hatched and the ducklings being marched by mama to the nearest pond. As well as this old mill pond for the farm, the neighbouring farmer has made a large pond/lochan, where he feeds ducks, swans, coots, moorhen and, alas, Canada Geese, hence the mallard looking for nest sites. He stocked it with fish, too, making it very attractive to the neighbouring ospreys from up the hill.

[Bryn]

When I travel into London by Greenline bus I have to change routes at Winsor, with a wait of 25 to 45 minutes between buses. Last week I used this hiatus to walk down to the Thames. As I approached Browns hostelry I noticed a mallard drake loitering on the pavement ahead of me. Not wishing to put it out, I moved out towards the kerb to pass it. The bird seemed unperturbed and passing I notice his duck ensconced on one of Browns's forecourt tables, for all the world looking as if testing out a nesting site. That set me to wondering, what would the legal situation be, should they start nest building? Would Browns have to leave them to get on with it, undisturbed? It also reminded me of watching ducklings tumbling down the Castle wall, then being marched off down River Street, towards the Thames.

[vinteuil]

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... it seems that the majority of mallard pairs we see here (London ponds and canals) are male + male.

Is this a London metrosexual thing, or are mallards known for privileging same-sex bonds?

(Having said which, haven't noted many female + female pairs.)


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[Bryn]

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... it seems that the majority of mallard pairs we see here (London ponds and canals) are male + male.

Is this a London metrosexual thing, or are mallards known for privileging same-sex bonds?

(Having said which, haven't noted many female + female pairs.)


.

Mallard ducks usually have two suitors/'rapists'.

[vinteuil]

Mallard ducks usually have two suitors/'rapists'.

... so the two males often seen together are not pair-bonded? Because it seems they go around in pairs throughout the year, not just during any mating season.

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