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

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  • Serial_Apologist
    Full Member
    • Dec 2010
    • 37710

    A caller on a TV phone-in programme this morning reported that either his friend or relative had been attacked when a seagull lacerated his shaven head with its talons. This was in a discussion with a strong bias against gulls, coming from seaside holidaymaker's experiences of food being intercepted and pets attacked by these birds, over hearsay plans for culling as a possible solution. I thought seagulls had webbed paddle feet, like ducks? If so, it would be their powerful beaks that would be the danger.

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    • Vox Humana
      Full Member
      • Dec 2012
      • 1251

      Gulls' feet are indeed webbed, but they still have claws and these are well capable of causing lacerations.

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      • vinteuil
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 12846

        '

        ... I have never before seen so many cormorants all together in one place - this morning, with a rapid incoming tide, on a pier of some rotting wooden piles downstream from Hammersmith Bridge, there were twelve of them : spaced out with about a yard between each, a couple of them heraldically drying their wings. An amazing sight...





        .
        Last edited by vinteuil; 28-08-19, 11:57.

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        • Serial_Apologist
          Full Member
          • Dec 2010
          • 37710

          Originally posted by Vox Humana View Post
          Gulls' feet are indeed webbed, but they still have claws and these are well capable of causing lacerations.
          https://www.hbw.com/ibc/photo/europe...herring-gull-3
          Aha - hadn't realised that. Intersting, thanks!

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          • Serial_Apologist
            Full Member
            • Dec 2010
            • 37710

            Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
            '

            ... I have never before seen so many cormorants all together in one place - this morning, with a rapid incoming tide, on a pontoon of some rotting wooden piles downstream from Hammersmith Bridge, there were twelve of them : spaced out with about a yard between each, a couple of them heraldically drying their wings. An amazing sight...

            .
            How do you know they weren't shags!

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            • vinteuil
              Full Member
              • Nov 2010
              • 12846

              Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
              How do you know they weren't shags!
              ... cos no paper bags in evidence - and no wandering bears in Hammersmith.

              .

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              • Serial_Apologist
                Full Member
                • Dec 2010
                • 37710

                Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
                ... cos no paper bags in evidence - and no wandering bears in Hammersmith.

                .

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                • cloughie
                  Full Member
                  • Dec 2011
                  • 22128

                  Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
                  How do you know they weren't shags!
                  I’m sure that there are more shags than cormorants but who will say ....

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                  • Vox Humana
                    Full Member
                    • Dec 2012
                    • 1251

                    Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
                    How do you know they weren't shags!
                    Since I've never birded the Thames it's probably rash of me to offer an opinion, but I wouldn't expect to see Shags so far from the open sea. In my experience Shags are happy enough to come a short way up a wide, open estuary, but they rarely venture further from the sea unless storm-driven. Cormorants, on the other hand, are more than happy to do so and often nest on inland lakes (where they often turn out to be the Continental race).

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                    • Serial_Apologist
                      Full Member
                      • Dec 2010
                      • 37710

                      Originally posted by Vox Humana View Post
                      Since I've never birded the Thames it's probably rash of me to offer an opinion, but I wouldn't expect to see Shags so far from the open sea. In my experience Shags are happy enough to come a short way up a wide, open estuary, but they rarely venture further from the sea unless storm-driven. Cormorants, on the other hand, are more than happy to do so and often nest on inland lakes (where they often turn out to be the Continental race).
                      That seems like the answer I was looking for!

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                      • Richard Tarleton

                        I've known the poem for nearly 60 years but have only just discovered it's by Christopher Isherwood - I first came across it in the Penguin Book of Comic and Curious Verse, and could have sworn it was credited to Anon.

                        Two slightly differing versions here - I'm sure one of them is wrong:

                        The Common Cormorant or shag Lays eggs inside a paper bag. The reason you will see no doubt It is to keep the lightning out. But what these unobservant birds Have never noticed is that herds Of wandering bears may come with buns And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.


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                        • Vox Humana
                          Full Member
                          • Dec 2012
                          • 1251

                          Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                          I've known the poem for nearly 60 years but have only just discovered it's by Christopher Isherwood - I first came across it in the Penguin Book of Comic and Curious Verse, and could have sworn it was credited to Anon.

                          Two slightly differing versions here - I'm sure one of them is wrong:

                          The Common Cormorant or shag Lays eggs inside a paper bag. The reason you will see no doubt It is to keep the lightning out. But what these unobservant birds Have never noticed is that herds Of wandering bears may come with buns And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.


                          https://www.blueridgejournal.com/poems/ci-corm.htm
                          I first came across it in Arnold Silcocks's collection Verse and Worse, which was published in the same year as the Penguin collection (1952). There it is also attributed to Anon and the text agrees with your first link.

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                          • gradus
                            Full Member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 5612

                            Late this afternoon a coloratura performance from what I think was a Robin in next door's Holly tree. I couldn't quite pick him/her out but I saw a profile that very likely belonged to the singer.

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                            • LezLee
                              Full Member
                              • Apr 2019
                              • 634

                              Originally posted by gradus View Post
                              Late this afternoon a coloratura performance from what I think was a Robin in next door's Holly tree. I couldn't quite pick him/her out but I saw a profile that very likely belonged to the singer.
                              Could also be a wren, they have an amazingly loud voice and they like holly bushes. 'My' wren likes to sing from on top of the cotoneaster bush, waking me up at 5am!

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                              • gradus
                                Full Member
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 5612

                                Originally posted by LezLee View Post
                                Could also be a wren, they have an amazingly loud voice and they like holly bushes. 'My' wren likes to sing from on top of the cotoneaster bush, waking me up at 5am!
                                Indeed, whoever was responsible had quite a voice for such a small frame.

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