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

[umslopogaas]

Buzzards. They nest round here (East Devon) and anytime I wander into the garden, I can hear them screeching to each other. They seem to call at the moment from rest, because I cant see them circling, but in the past I have seen them up there in the sunset, looking for their dinner.

[Ockeghem's Razor]

The two crows which seem to enjoy spending time on my front lawn are back today. An attempted murder, to quote my son.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The two crows which seem to enjoy spending time on my front lawn are back today. An attempted murder, to quote my son.

- bright lad/man!

[Serial_Apologist]

Earlier today, a magpie wandering under some trees was being watched by a cat from a very short distance away, peering over a low wall. I had to go past this scene in order to get back inside. As i did so, the disturbed magpie flew away. The cat looked around at me, mewed a couple of times, came over to me, rolled on her back with paws outstretched, and let me rub her tummy!

Only humans seem to hold resentments...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Earlier today, a magpie wandering under some trees was being watched by a cat from a very short distance away, peering over a low wall. I had to go past this scene in order to get back inside. As i did so, the disturbed magpie flew away. The cat looked around at me, mewed a couple of times, came over to me, rolled on her back with paws outstretched, and let me rub her tummy!

Only humans seem to hold resentments...

You don't know where she'd had her tummy!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Beautiful moth ... but what's the fruit, EA?

Thornless blackberries. (The moth was the result of my first lesson in using layers in PhotoShop.)

[jayne lee wilson]

Earlier today, a magpie wandering under some trees was being watched by a cat from a very short distance away, peering over a low wall. I had to go past this scene in order to get back inside. As i did so, the disturbed magpie flew away. The cat looked around at me, mewed a couple of times, came over to me, rolled on her back with paws outstretched, and let me rub her tummy!

Only humans seem to hold resentments...

Mizzy the Wegie is a great mouser who rarely damages her living toys (very young ones may perish from cold or shock) - sometimes she drops one in front of me and it sits there, frozen or playing dead... I scoop it up, praise her and stroke her, thank her for the gift and take it back to Mouse City aka the rockery...
she looks a little astonished but comes to me affectionately again, then goes straight back out to find another (there's probably a few mice who hit the hall carpet thinking, oh god not AGAIN...)

A few days ago a wellgrown one was on its side, mouth open, looking very dead in her biscuit dish. I picked it up to dispose of it - it began to twitch vigorously! Outside, it scooted off into the undergrowth. Some of them are truly excellent survivalists...

A few years ago some researcher or scientist claimed that GB's cats were wiping out our rodents... going by this year's numbers - and happily Shrews too - there's not too much wrong here!

[ardcarp]

ardcarp, you should be down there with your spinning rod. Fresh mackerel for tea- supposed to be the bee's knees.

Fresh mackerel are almost the bees' knees; we get them sometimes by spinning from our boat. But the very best way to eat them is hot-smoked. And mackerel pate made from the hot-smoked flesh is fantastic too.

Going back to our local glut (a very unusual phenomenon to have the sea close inshore saturated with them) I sat on the beach this pm, and one chap with a rod and a multi-hook device with feathers was pulling in 4 every time he cast. He must have caught nearly a hundred in the hour I was there. You can have too much of a good thing.

[Richard Tarleton]

Fresh mackerel are almost the bees' knees; we get them sometimes by spinning from our boat. But the very best way to eat them is hot-smoked. And mackerel pate made from the hot-smoked flesh is fantastic too.

Weather permitting I'm hoping to go out in a boat into the Celtic Deep on Thursday to look at seabirds and cetaceans (the boat only goes birdwatching in relatively good conditions, otherwise it goes sea fishing) - a bucket of mackerel will be on board for attracting gannets. They sometimes take chum (stinking minced mackerel, which works brilliantly - attracts everything from storm petrels to sharks) though this does not help landlubber types to keep their breakfast down. There'll be another chance in September.

[Dave2002]

A very recent trip to the Scottish Highlands - Inverness, Dingwall, Tain reminded me of the existence of seagulls. Noisy and greedy birds, which will scavenge seemingly any old dirt and rubbish which happens to be on the floor, and some seem to want to bend their heads backward and then make a terrific squawking noise for minutes on end - beaks wide open. Good to see them occasionally, but I probably won't miss them for a little while now.

[Dave2002]

A very recent trip to the Scottish Highlands - Inverness, Dingwall, Tain - reminded me of the existence of seagulls. Noisy and greedy birds, which will scavenge seemingly any old dirt and rubbish which happens to be on the ground, and some seem to want to fly or climb up to chimneys, then bend their heads backward and make a terrific squawking noise for minutes on end - beaks wide open. Good to see them occasionally, but I probably won't miss them for a little while now.

[Globaltruth]

Well it's still a thrill to be visited by the goldfinch - such a great collective noun....although we are only visited by a pair.
The German word is rather fine too - Stieglitz


The secret was nyger (nyjer?) seeds in a specialist, and very odd, feeder with tiny feeding holes - Mr & Mrs Stieglitz (NB, not Stiglitz) sit their happily, wasting seeds (which are picked up off the floor by other finches).
We had to take a leap of faith in the first place as we'd never seen any - took about 3 months before they actually arrived.
We definitely watch them - however the jackdaws definitely watch us, lookout posted most of the time in case we put any major scraps out - recent experiments show they prefer garlic naan bread to healthy wholemeal.
They are the veritable gangsters of our enclave...

[Serial_Apologist]

There's been a lot on the news recently about magpies not in fact being attracted to bright objects, contrary to reputation. Jackdaws definitely are, though - and maybe other members of the crow family, apart from magpies? I wonder when the confusion arose - must have been before Rossini's time?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well it's still a thrill to be visited by the goldfinch - such a great collective noun....although we are only visited by a pair.

A cheep thrill?

[Lento]

A very recent trip to the Scottish Highlands - Inverness, Dingwall, Tain - reminded me of the existence of seagulls.

Common gulls (not so common) on Tweet of the Day today!