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

[teamsaint]

Almost needless to say the glorious blackbird is my very favourite bird ... such a sleek-looking, divine-sounding creature with whom I mostly associate with awakening morning calls and warm, relaxing summer evenings.

However, I've noticed quite a few robins recently ... around here they seem to appear more at the approach of summer rather than in the depths of winter as legend has it.

My favourites too, Scotty.
And what a fabulous picture of those owls.

I can never get them to stay still long enough.....

[HighlandDougie]

... lordy, lordy - in principle I'm all in favour of birds and birdsong.

But....

In a tree that comes all too close to our bedroom window we now have a blackbird. Who has a Loud Call. And who has decided to chirrup non-stop from about 4.30AM to 5:30AM. Every morning. In the most irritating, repeating but not exactly repeating, with unequal pauses between each burst, style of birdsong.

O for my trusty service revolver...

I think that you should imagine yourself as Jean-Philippe Rameau (but maybe not Olivier Messiaen) lie there and consider how he might have depicted le merle-noir. You'll soon find yourself drifting back to sleep ....

My garden is blessed with several pairs of Blackbirds, which, along with the resident Blackcaps, are a joy, even at 5am. The world would be a much poorer place without them.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPn76PEe7Cg

[Lento]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPn76PEe7Cg

I'm all for a bit of Messiaen, but am missing the real thing at the moment: heard just a little from Turdus Merula, a few weeks back. Is he too busy? Too cold? I've no idea.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm all for a bit of Messiaen, but am missing the real thing at the moment: heard just a little from Turdus Merula, a few weeks back. Is he too busy? Too cold? I've no idea.

I thought this was some kind of a wind-up until I checked...

Around here the blackbirds are singing their hearts out, low temperatures notwithstanding. But I have only heard one songthrush thus far this year.

[Dave2002]

I read about woodcocks recently in what may have been a country gaming magazine. I was sadly amused by the notion that it's legal to shoot them at certain times of year - including both resident and non resident birds.
Imagine going "on holiday" and someone deciding it's legal to shoot you!

[ardcarp]

I've only seen a woodcock once. It was lurking at the base of a hedgerow and sort of waddled away out of sight with the gait of an old man.

A list of quite ordinary birds eaten in Tudor times is here:

http://www.historyextra.com/feature/tudors/tudor-dining-guide-food-and-status-16th-century

(just above the heading Four Seasons)

[Richard Tarleton]

I read about woodcocks recently in what may have been a country gaming magazine. I was sadly amused by the notion that it's legal to shoot them at certain times of year - including both resident and non resident birds.
Imagine going "on holiday" and someone deciding it's legal to shoot you!

The good news is that they're difficult to shoot, and are known in shooting circles as the widowmaker, as their erratic flight sometimes leads to shootists shooting eachother by mistake, a cheering thought.

[Vox Humana]

I'm all for a bit of Messiaen, but am missing the real thing at the moment: heard just a little from Turdus Merula, a few weeks back. Is he too busy? Too cold? I've no idea.

Cat?

I've only seen a woodcock once. It was lurking at the base of a hedgerow and sort of waddled away out of sight with the gait of an old man.

A list of quite ordinary birds eaten in Tudor times is here:

http://www.historyextra.com/feature/tudors/tudor-dining-guide-food-and-status-16th-century

(just above the heading Four Seasons)

There's a wood near me where I can usually kick up a Woodcock in winter . It's quite a heart-stopping moment when they burst from the bracken under your feet. I've only seen them on the ground a couple of times.

As for birds eaten in Tudor times, there's a sobering list in the 1508 Boke of Keruynge (=carving, I assume), here and on the next couple of pages. Egrets and Cranes are on the list. I am pleased to see that the OED is just as stumped as I am about "brewe", hazarding merely "A fowl; ? a kind of snipe." I notice that godwits are missing from the list, but I'm sure I've seen references to them being eaten then. (Or is that what a brewe is?)

[Serial_Apologist]

Cat?



There's a wood near me where I can usually kick up a Woodcock in winter . It's quite a heart-stopping moment when they burst from the bracken under your feet. I've only seen them on the ground a couple of times.

As for birds eaten in Tudor times, there's a sobering list in the 1508 Boke of Keruynge (=carving, I assume), here and on the next couple of pages. Egrets and Cranes are on the list. I am pleased to see that the OED is just as stumped as I am about "brewe", hazarding merely "A fowl; ? a kind of snipe." I notice that godwits are missing from the list, but I'm sure I've seen references to them being eaten then. (Or is that what a brewe is?)

PG Tits?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought this was some kind of a wind-up until I checked...

Yes - if that's what you're going to call them, Lento, it's no surprise they won't sing for you!

Around here the blackbirds are singing their hearts out, low temperatures notwithstanding.

Same here (one showing off as I type!) - Blackbirds feature well into Winter, usually with their angry/distressed call, though. ("It's ryddu cold, and some so&so's just called me a Turdus!") I heard the glorious "proper" song for the first time this year last week: the most beautiful sound I know.

[Stanfordian]

I read about woodcocks recently in what may have been a country gaming magazine. I was sadly amused by the notion that it's legal to shoot them at certain times of year - including both resident and non resident birds.
Imagine going "on holiday" and someone deciding it's legal to shoot you!

At the Manor House in my town many decades ago the Lord of the Manor built a massive red brick dove cote (it's still there) to provide food for the table. At the same time hares were also produced on grand scale. I can't imagine too many eating dove and hare these days.

[vinteuil]

I heard the glorious "proper" song for the first time this year last week: the most beautiful sound I know.

... and he's been to Huddersfield!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... and he's been to Huddersfield!

[Lento]

Cat? )

No, still very much alive: I think he dislikes being called Turdus, and is refusing to perform for me: or perhaps his voice is "evolving" in a different direction and is thus out of use!