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

[vinteuil]

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... one of the magpies here has learnt from watching the great tits : it laboriously flies up to the feeder containing the fat-balls and, with much thrashing of wings and grasping with claws is just about able to hang on long enough to get several bites before flopping away. The wood-pigeons show a different kind of intelligence - they wait until the tits have been at the seed feeders and in a leisurely way walk about on the ground beneath picking up all the seeds that have inevitably fallen out

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[Sir Velo]

Pigeons do have a certain intelligence despite being exceptionally ugly and unattractive avian customers. I have finally inculcated in the local brood the realisation that if they perch anywhere within my demesne they will be inflicted with a jet of freezing cold water from a cannon. They now perch happily (for them) just out of shot on neighbouring fences and posts. Occasionally one forgets its lesson and has to be reminded the hard way, but usually, in a pavlovian response, the moment they hear the window being opened they beat a hasty retreat.

[vinteuil]

Pigeons do have a certain intelligence despite being exceptionally ugly and unattractive avian customers.

... I too used to dislike pigeons, but have come to admire them. Yes, london pigeons en masse can be off-putting, but the range of pigeon variants is amazing, from the elegant small birds found in the Middle East to the plump (and tasty) wood-pigeons here in Britain - as a child my brother was able to kill them with a catapult, but seldom sufficient to make a pie - so my mother had to drive in to the market town to get further pigeons from the butcher's. And the various specialised broods - I recall an extraordinary performance by a tumbler pigeon by the river at Hammersmith Bridge. And (trivial pursuit factoid) - they are almost the only bird that can truly suck up water - other birds have to dip their beaks and then throw their necks back... Respect!

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[Joseph K]

Yeah, I also like pigeons - a lot!

[jayne lee wilson]

Yeah, I also like pigeons - a lot!

Looking out early this morning I saw two very neat, compact Columbids feeding on the seed I lay out on the front mosses before going to bed. Grabbing the binocs and zooming in I found them to be.... Stock Doves! Very unusual even in a heavily wooded suburb, normally further out into the country or the coastal dunes, and very pretty with their fifty shades of grey, pink chests, and gorgeous iridescent green on either side of the neck.

https://www.google.com/search?q=stock+dove&client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=APwXEdfTsrcEyso23uwP6HBIMket2ESOiA:1680810759511&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-i4WChJb-AhXjnVwKHaInBUQQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1440&bih=789&dpr=1#imgrc=_MESEIhjpunBWM

Lovely views of willowchiffs in the orchard this PM too (I manage to stagger there with my precious first coffee when the weather allows, poor health long since denying me the long walks). The chiffchaffs have been singing for a few weeks, so it was probably one of those...

[Dave2002]

Might have spotted a golden eagle tonight. It came round a few times but unfortunately by the time I’d grabbed my camera to take a shot which could confirm this it decided to fly away. Maybe it’ll come back tomorrow. I will be waiting!

[jayne lee wilson]

Might have spotted a golden eagle tonight. It came round a few times but unfortunately by the time I’d grabbed my camera to take a shot which could confirm this it decided to fly away. Maybe it’ll come back tomorrow. I will be waiting!

They are spectacular aren't they? No doubt when you encounter one for sheer size! A birder friend back in the 70s used to say, "like a bloody barn door in midair..."...(Lancastrian agricultural accent....)

Did others here see that extraordinary footage of the White-Tailed Eagle hunting the poor Barnacle Goose on Attenborough's latest show?

Remarkable agility in so large a predator... what a sequence.

[Joseph K]

Looking out early this morning I saw two very neat, compact Columbids feeding on the seed I lay out on the front mosses before going to bed. Grabbing the binocs and zooming in I found them to be.... Stock Doves! Very unusual even in a heavily wooded suburb, normally further out into the country or the coastal dunes, and very pretty with their fifty shades of grey, pink chests, and gorgeous iridescent green on either side of the neck.

https://www.google.com/search?q=stoc..._MESEIhjpunBWM

I'm not sure if they were Stock Doves but I saw similar birds with the green on the back of their necks by the river on my walk today.

[Joseph K]

Pleased to report that the usual avian contingent has reappeared in our garden! Just now, there were three or five sparrows around the birdbath, at the feeder or perched on the fence, along with a blackbird on the lawn.

Happy Easter!

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm not sure if they were Stock Doves but I saw similar birds with the green on the back of their necks by the river on my walk today.

Looking at the standard London pigeons this afternoon, many of them have that green iridescent smear on the back of the neck.

[oddoneout]

The wood pigeons have taken to the opposite neighbour's PV panels in a big way. I think there are at least 3 "nests", and a lot of general activity; there is another array on the back roof, but I don't know if that is equally popular as I can't see it. Some of the birds have yet to work out how to manage the slippery slopes. It all makes for entertaining viewing, but there is already a great deal of mess - droppings where they perch on the edges of the panels, and twigs sticking out round the edges and falling underneath down into the gutter. As and when eggs/chicks appear they also may end up in the gutter, as happened with another neighbour 3 doors down.

[HighlandDougie]

First cuckoo of the year heard. Should get out a Delius CD ….

[Mal]

Blackbird getting the better of two squirrels! Aerial advantage and sharp beak soon had them on the run...

[Old Grumpy]

Blackbird getting the better of two squirrels! Aerial advantage and sharp beak soon had them on the run...

Greys, I presume - vermin

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-64789834.amp

[Bryn]

Greys, I presume - vermin

Highly resourceful 'vermin', at that.