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

[Dave2002]

It's likely given their short lifespan in the wild, rates of juvenile mortality etc. that few would have ther opportunity to mate with their offspring. By the following spring, the birds are likely to be well and truly dispersed/mixed up/dead. Incidentally you won't have "juveniles" around at the moment, too late for last year's young to be considered juveniles and too early for this....all the brown ones will be females I'd say. But I'm not an expert - most proper birders tend to ignore pheasants!

I'm sure that proper birders do ignore them, but it has been amusing recently to see them wandering round our lawn. Sounds as though we do have a harem, plus a male then, but not necessarily an incestuous one.

ardcarp:We re wondering about shotguns, and Sunday lunches!

[Dave2002]

Just looked out of the window - now there are 6 - no male in sight immediately. They're breeding!

[Richard Tarleton]

ardcarp:We re wondering about shotguns, and Sunday lunches!

Only between October 1 and February 1! Otherwise you'll have to resort to a quieter method (air gun, head shot )

[doversoul1]

Just looked out of the window - now there are 6 - no male in sight immediately. They're breeding!

Hens don’t always go about with a / the cock. At the moment, apart from four hens, two cocks regularly visit my garden: the dominant and the opportunist. Plus an occasional visitor. The dominant cock is still allowing (only just) the opportunist to feed in ‘his’ place. Once the breeding season starts, the dominant cock will not tolerate other cocks in sight. The chase and the fight are quite spectacular to watch.

Incidentally, cocks begin to grow their distinct plumage when they are about a month (I think) old.

[doversoul1]

BaL Delius’s Sea Drift

Just heard the reviewer telling us on BaL Delius’s Sea Drift, ‘the birds singing lovingly to each other’.

Ah well, poetic license, I suppose.

[Richard Tarleton]

Just heard the reviewer telling us on BaL Delius’s Sea Drift, ‘the birds singing lovingly to each other’.

There are at least 2 fundamental errors in that - "lovingly" and "to eachother" Is that what Delius thought, do you suppose? I'm not listening.

[Bryn]

There are at least 2 fundamental errors in that - "lovingly" and "to eachother[sic]" ...

What about tawny owls?

[Richard Tarleton]

Fair point - fulmars and albatrosses too, now I think about it

[doversoul1]

Fair point - fulmars and albatrosses too, now I think about it

what is singing is in the ear of the beholder:…

[Bryn]

what is singing is in the ear of the beholder:…

Yeh, but the point about tawny owls is that they tweet to woo. [Coat already off peg.]

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There are at least 2 fundamental errors in that - "lovingly" and "to each other" Is that what Delius thought, do you suppose? I'm not listening.

No - there's nothing in the score to suggest this. Nor did Whitman: the surviving bird is described as a "lone singer" who "call'd on his mate" only after his mate has died - and the poem makes clear that this is the adult persona remembering how he responded as a "curious boy" "translating the notes". The she-bird is never heard or described singing in Whitman or Delius (quite the contrary - "every day the she-bird crouch'd on her nest, silent, with bright eyes".)

[gradus]

A pair of linnets on the feeder. I've not seen them in the garden before and they were plumper and redder on head and breast than i/d suggests in the books.

[ardcarp]

Males redder on the head than females usually.....and many birds 'plump up' their feathers when it's cold.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/l/linnet/

[gradus]

Ah yes, it's pretty parky here today.

[Serial_Apologist]

Did anyone see the item on the BBC 1 Lunchtime News about the eagle capturing the drone? Unfortunately the dramatic footage is not yet available on iplayer. Asked what the bird did once it had discovered its prey to be inedible, the keeper said that his job was immediately to reward it with proper meat! This was then shown. The eagle actually does the capture by locking its talons into the actual propellors of the craft, and the man explained that research was underway into ways of protecting those precious talons. In the clip they were shown to be undamaged, amazingly.