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

[vinteuil]

Let me guess. You're in a rooftop café by the Djemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakesh, sipping mint tea?

... nope.

But if I add - lammergeier, Rüppell's vulture, Heuglin's bustard, Hemprich's hornbill, black-billed barbet, cithagra citrils, slaty flycatcher, Rüppell's weaver - then you will certainly find where I was...



[ ... sadly no sight of Prince Ruspoli's turaco .]


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[Richard Tarleton]

Excellent. I'll go with HD's suggestion, fits the bill () - the only one of those I've seen, tho I've seen a lot, is the lammergeier....

Rüppell has an impressive number of species named after him - I've seen his warbler in Crete and Lesvos....

PS Prince Ruspoli's turaco looks an utterly spectacular creature....

PPS looking at Dave's bucket list thread, Ethiopia has just shot to the top (it's been lurking for a while....)

[vinteuil]

PPS looking at Dave's bucket list thread, Ethiopia has just shot to the top (it's been lurking for a while....)

... for a serious birdologist like you, Ethiopia will be amazing -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Ethiopia

.

[eighthobstruction]

....i heard something swquauck in the dark just now....

[Richard Tarleton]

....i heard something swquauck in the dark just now....

Ke-wick? Female tawny?

[Padraig]

A charm of goldfinches deigned to visit my garden today.

[Richard Tarleton]

In line with the latest advice from the BTO, I deep-cleaned our bird feeders today. I do it from time to time, probably not often enough....these squirrel-proof ones are quite fiddly, take some re-assembling....

[eighthobstruction]

Ke-wick? Female tawny?

....a duck I think....though it had the feel of an oyster catcher....

[Richard Tarleton]

....a duck I think....though it had the feel of an oyster catcher....

My mnemonic for oystercatcher is "kleep-a-kleep-a kleep kleep kleep"..... I have a large stock of these...off shortly to to the last WEBS (Wetland and Estuary Bird Survey) of the winter on the wetland I cover, should hear Cetti's warbler (chink -chinka- chinka chink), or, as the Collins Bird Guide has it, "Listen!...What's my name?...Cetti-Cetti-Cetti - that's it!"

[Bryn]

Not watched, nor even seen, but just heard my first cuckoo of spring. I opened the window wide to double check. No doubt about it. Spring is here.

[Serial_Apologist]

Not watched, nor even seen, but just heard my first cuckoo of spring. I opened the window wide to double check. No doubt about it. Spring is here.

You mentioned collar doves over on another thread, Bryn. From what one hears they have become almost extinct in this country, and I certainly haven't seen or heard any for a number of years now - is that right?

[Bryn]

You mentioned collar[ed] doves over on another thread, Bryn. From what one hears they have become almost extinct in this country, and I certainly haven't seen or heard any for a number of years now - is that right?

A little less than a million pairs in the U.K., if that is what you think of as "almost extinct". No these bully-boys of the bird table proliferate like mad here.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/collared-dove

[Richard Tarleton]

Not watched, nor even seen, but just heard my first cuckoo of spring. I opened the window wide to double check. No doubt about it. Spring is here.

In which case the first in the UK, Bryn (by about 3 weeks by normal standards) acc. to Birdtrack - put cuckoo in the search box bottom centre - the first wheatears and sand martins only just trickling in?

[Bryn]

In which case the first in the UK, Bryn (by about 3 weeks by normal standards) acc. to Birdtrack - put cuckoo in the search box bottom centre - the first wheatears and sand martins only just trickling in?

I had to do a double take. I briefly wondered if I was mishearing a collared dove cut short and slowed down a little, but no, definitely a cuckoo, and heard several times. I'm pretty sure it wasn't some one playing tricks with a recording. The call came from above the level of the surrounding houses here. This is a heavily wooded area. When it was developed froma country park in the 1950s, hardly a mature tree was felled, the houses being placed amid them.

[Richard Tarleton]

Well I think you should log it on BirdTrack at the very least, or contact RSPB/BTO - given the interest in cuckoo movements, a major event. Plus there should be info on cuckoo records further south....acc. to the BTO, the cuckoos being tracked are still in Africa..... - so be prepared for some scepticism....