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

[gradus]

One housemartin,no swallows and no swifts so far this Summer.

[gradus]

At last today a small group of housemartins hunting above the garden.

[oddoneout]

One housemartin,no swallows and no swifts so far this Summer.

It's very quiet so I reckon the swifts have departed round here. A couple of weeks ago they were very much in evidence with family groups screaming up and down the road between the houses, which is usually the sign that they will leave soon. At my former workplace there is a colony that occupies part of the roof each year, and they were also doing group exercises recently but there was no sign(or sound) of them when I was there yesterday. I assume the swallows are still down on the farm, they come earlier and stay later to have a second brood, but I don't know if the insect levels have been sufficient for that this year, even with the river, pond and muckheaps.

[Jonathan]

Ring necked Parakeets in my parents in law's garden in Cheadle! We've seen at least 3.

[Dave2002]

Ring necked Parakeets in my parents in law's garden in Cheadle! We've seen at least 3.

I miiss those - don't get them up here - but we do get cuckoos. Not sure about swifts, swallows or house martins this year. We've certainly had some high speed birds - but perhaps not so many as in previous years. A year or two back many of them would fly or even land on our roof, but perhaps the weather has been too poor this year.

[oddoneout]

A distressing discovery yesterday - a drowned wren. I have 2 water tanks(from a neighbour's household plumbing improvements) alongside my shed, into which the water from the corrugated roof drips or gushes, depending. Both tanks have solid covers on to prevent debris falling in - and thirsty birds dicing with death - unless I can be certain of rain for refilling purposes. I had forgotten to take them off for the overnight rain so went down in the morning to take them off, as the forecast was for more, which was when I saw the sad little body floating in one. It can't have been there very long judging by its condition, but knowing the tank had been covered for days I was at a loss to puzzle out what had happened. At last I realised the only solution was that there are two holes near the top of the tank where pipes once were and I can only assume that the bird decided to investigate (as they do with the knotholes in the shed) perhaps for food or potential shelter and then got into difficulties as the tank sides would have offered no purchase for claws and perhaps it couldn't find the holes through which it had entered. I took the opportunity to empty and clean the tank(after 2 years in situ a lot of sediment had gathered and I wanted to make sure there weren't any more corpses festering) and will bend a bit of twilweld over the rim to cover the holes to prevent a recurrence.
Particularly sad as I think it must have been one of the pair that came back into the garden recently after a wrenless summer.

[vinteuil]

.
... house martins, skylarks, cormorants, egrets, avocets, and an osprey. Not in Hammersmith, but Arne RSPB on the Isle of Purbeck. Others here claimed to have seen a Dartford Warbler ; we were not so privileged

.

[smittims]

One of my neighbours has two beautiful white doves living (as far as I can see) beneath their solar panels. They emerge onto the roof occasionally.

Our cat Billy watches the birds but, as I'm an RSPB member, I'm relieved to say that's a far as his interest in them goes, Similarly,they watch him, but they seem to have learnt that he's not a threat as they come and go regardless . The only exception was a magpie who sat next Billy on the fence and gave him what-for , ( 'yakkety-yakkety-yak! etc) . He took it patiently for longer than I expected but eventually dismissed the bird with a wave of his paw , rather like Wotan and Hunding at the end of Walkure act two (Geh! Geh!).

[oddoneout]

One of my neighbours has two beautiful white doves living (as far as I can see) beneath their solar panels. They emerge onto the roof occasionally.

Our cat Billy watches the birds but, as I'm an RSPB member, I'm relieved to say that's a far as his interest in them goes, Similarly,they watch him, but they seem to have learnt that he's not a threat as they come and go regardless . The only exception was a magpie who sat next Billy on the fence and gave him what-for , ( 'yakkety-yakkety-yak! etc) . He took it patiently for longer than I expected but eventually dismissed the bird with a wave of his paw , rather like Wotan and Hunding at the end of Walkure act two (Geh! Geh!).

PV panels are used as nesting places by pigeons(although not wood pigeons, they are just too big in most cases to fit underneath properly) and it does cause problems. Neighbours across the road had a full PV array put front and back on their house which was being scoped out for accommodation within a couple of weeks by a group of feral pigeons that had moved into the road some months previously. I could see the activity from my bedroom window, and count the number of pairs taking in nesting material. In due course the gutters started to fill with discarded rubbish - shit, twigs, eggshells, dead chicks. The panels had to be taken off this spring for work to the roof and what was underneath looked like one of the those seabird colonies, with great clumps of guano jammed between the tiles and the backs of the panels. Clearing it all off was a seriously unpleasant job and a lot ended up on windowsills and doorsteps(including the house next door, not nice for the new owner just moving in) as the lads doing it were neither organised nor careful. When the panels went back on they had suitable wire guards put round the edges to prevent a repeat. It took several weeks for the birds to get the message and their loitering created a lot of mess over the panels and roof tiles, so it was just as well we had a wet spring...
Why the guards are not fitted as standard or offered as an add-on(opportunity for a bit extra profit I would have thought) I don't know.

[smittims]

That's interesting, oddoneout. I hadn't thought of it. Maybe the installers of solar panels haven't either!

[oddoneout]

Years ago the small satellite dishes that proliferated on house fronts became popular with collared doves as nesting sites where the angle between the back of the dish and the attaching bracket was right to allow twigs to be jammed in to make a platform. The next door semi to my previous house had one that was used most years, not always successfully as it was in a very exposed site and strong winds formed vortices at the corner of the building where it was sited.
Which reminds me, I rarely see collared doves here now. the massive increase in the wood pigeon population some years ago had something to do with it I think as the smaller gentler birds just got shouldered out of the way when it came to food or nests. That peak has passed,(very noticeably the past couple of years - I wonder if the avian flu, which was all around here, got them?), although it has to be said that a feral pigeon population seems to have taken their place.
The other bird currently very noticeable by its absence is the blackbird. There have been few in the garden this year anyway but the past fortnight none - at a time when normally they are very much in evidence due to the windfall pears and apples from the neighbours' trees. It was brought home the previous weekend when some slightly gone over grapes and a couple of bruised dessert apples that I put out by the birdbath were still there several days later. The lack of their scoldings and song leaves quite a gap in the soundscape.

[HighlandDougie]

The other bird currently very noticeable by its absence is the blackbird. There have been few in the garden this year anyway but the past fortnight none - at a time when normally they are very much in evidence

That is both depressing and worrying as one of life's - few - joys these days is the presence of healthy numbers of blackbirds in my gardens in both France and Scotland. Here (France) there is ample supply of food in the shape of pyracanthus berries. A bush I don't much like but I largely let it be as food for the birds. The blackbirds are also partial to ripe black olives. Their song is a source of much delight.

[smittims]

That reminds me that this spring I did not hear so many blackbirds singing. And this summer there have been very few flies and wasps about. Our local spiders must be having a very thin time for diet. Will next year be the 'silent spring'?

[oddoneout]

That is both depressing and worrying as one of life's - few - joys these days is the presence of healthy numbers of blackbirds in my gardens in both France and Scotland. Here (France) there is ample supply of food in the shape of pyracanthus berries. A bush I don't much like but I largely let it be as food for the birds. The blackbirds are also partial to ripe black olives. Their song is a source of much delight.

This won't have helped but I'm not sure it is the problem in my part of the world - yet. https://www.discoverwildlife.com/ani...at-usutu-virus
As with the pigeons, I wonder if avian flu might be an issue. This part of the world was very badly hit in both farm and wild birds(especially seabirds) last year and there were also outbreaks earlier this year.

[smittims]

On the way back from my walk on Sunday I counted a skein of seventy-four geese flying north in a classic V-formation at about 900 feet.