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

[Bryn]

... or you could argue - this was humans interfering in the 'natural' order of things and thereby depriving other scavenger animals of necessary sustenance.

We find eagles attractive : but we mustn't get speciesist


.

So. a chance log floating down the the river would be fine but humans in kayaks should steer clear? It's a good job that, for instance, cetaceans don't stick to similar thinking. There are so many reports of dolphins and whales coming to the aid humans in trouble in the water.

[gradus]

A Pied Wagtail busy-bodying around on the grass this morning. How on earth does their vision work with that constant head-banging?

[oddoneout]

A Pied Wagtail busy-bodying around on the grass this morning. How on earth does their vision work with that constant head-banging?

Head movement helps some birds home in on flies etc because of the way their eyes work - whether they look forward or to the side. I was struck many years ago by the difference in this respect between the chicken and turkey chicks I raised one year; the turkeys would see a fly and move the head directly towards it, whereas the chickens had to do a certain amount of side to side head movement and then jab. Thinking about your comment set me wondering how much the head does actually move though or whether the extravagant tail movement(to flush out insects it is suggested) and their rather jerky way of walking gives the impression that the head is also moving to a similar degree? Need to find a video to check that out.

[Serial_Apologist]

Head movement helps some birds home in on flies etc because of the way their eyes work - whether they look forward or to the side. I was struck many years ago by the difference in this respect between the chicken and turkey chicks I raised one year; the turkeys would see a fly and move the head directly towards it, whereas the chickens had to do a certain amount of side to side head movement and then jab. Thinking about your comment set me wondering how much the head does actually move though or whether the extravagant tail movement(to flush out insects it is suggested) and their rather jerky way of walking gives the impression that the head is also moving to a similar degree? Need to find a video to check that out.

Heads or tails?

[ardcarp]

Absolutely amazing how a kestrel (for instance) manages to keep its head totally motionless while the rest of its body is engaged in hovering. Necessary of course to spot small prey on the ground.

[johncorrigan]

I was wakened by the sound of a raven this morning. When I looked out the bedroom window the family of five ravens were just outside the garden down in the dip. Even Mrs C didn't mind being wakened to see such a beautiful sight. Wouldn't want a peck from those beaks!

[vinteuil]

I was wakened by the sound of a raven this morning. .

... was it making a mane, and singing "Whaur sail we gang and dine the day?"

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[Padraig]

... was it making a mane, and singing "Whaur sail we gang and dine the day?"

.

"Nivermair"

[johncorrigan]

... was it making a mane, and singing "Whaur sail we gang and dine the day?"

.

Well one nipped down behind the dyke, vinteuil, so perhaps I should go down and investigate.

[LMcD]

I've been watching a wren pursuing - and capturing - a moth.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've been watching a wren pursuing - and capturing - a moth.

In that case I might just rent one to deal with my perennial clothes moth problem.

[oddoneout]

Bit of colour at the seaside. Will the announced expansion of MacD's activities bring more to Britain? https://www.birdguides.com/gallery/b...aster/1072075/

[AuntDaisy]

Pied wagtail chicks nesting in the workshop roof. The one on the left has a professorial look.

[HighlandDougie]

... was it making a mane, and singing "Whaur sail we gang and dine the day?"

.

A nitpicking Scot comments: "Whaur sall [alas not sail] we gang and dine today"

I was obliged to learn it by heart at school and, aeons later, find that I still remember. Perhaps it's that early senile thing of remembering trivia from the past but being unable to recall where one left the car keys five minutes ago.

[vinteuil]

.

... hmmm. The version I have [ collected and published in 1611 by Thomas Ravenscroft , in his collection Melismata. It is recorded as Child Ballad #26 ] -

As I was walking a’ alane,
I heard twa corbies makin’ a mane.
The tane untae the tither did say,
Whaur sail we gang and dine the day, O.
Whaur sail we gang and dine the day?

It’s in ahint yon auld fail dyke
I wot there lies a new slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there
But his hawk and his hound, and his lady fair, O.
But his hawk and his hound, and his lady fair.

His hound is to the hunting gane
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady ta’en anither mate,
So we may mak’ our dinner swate, O.
So we may mak’ our dinner swate.

Ye’ll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I’ll pike oot his bonny blue e’en
Wi’ ae lock o’ his gowden hair
We’ll theek oor nest when it grows bare, O.

We’ll theek oor nest when it grows bare.
There’s mony a ane for him maks mane
But nane sail ken whaur he is gane
O’er his white banes when they are bare
The wind sail blaw for evermair, O.
The wind sail blaw for evermair.