Paid Members Gus Mears Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 Place for any BirdChat, robins to condors. Coming out of a conversation in the things that cheer you up thread. 3 hours ago, Gus Mears said: I downloaded the Merlin app a while ago, which recognises birdsong and tells you the type that you are listening to. Waves of excitement every time I hear something new and scrabble to my phone to record it. My wife and I recently went on holiday to New Hampshire and I got recordings of all sorts - Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Golden-crowned Kinglet. It gets you like gardening does. Went recently some local lakes and marshland where rare migratory birds sometimes hang out and saw an advert for a local bird watching group. Ten years ago I would have ignored it completely but now? I'll have signed up by the end of next year I would imagine. One of the worst things about the house I live in now is the lack of birds in the garden. Last place, despite the fact it backed on the GWR mainline and was in the centre of Reading, had shit loads - red kites and buzzards overhead, robins aplenty and blue tits nesting in the end of the bathroom which was the highlight of the pandemic, watching the brood grow and fly away. Just pigeons wallowing the bird bath now.    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 We get a Robin that comes back all the time. Bit worried at the moment though because my bird feeder broke (rusted in half) and I've hung the bird feeders elsewhere and nothing's touched them to the point they went manky. Rarest we ever got in our garden was this Heron who just visited one day and has never been back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 The only good thing about my slum flat is it’s on the ground floor so I can use the garden. Got a feeder out for the birds and squirrels. There’s a family of 6 Jackdaws who live nearby and they’re always thriving the monkey nuts, then the magpies do too. We have robins and blue tits and south Manchesters famous flock of parakeets fly overhead quite regularly.  Sometimes we take our cameras down to Sale Water Park and get some great shots of all the birds there. Used my aforementioned Chirp-O-Matic there in the woods and it told me there was a Blackcap nearby. I was delighted when a few minutes later he landed on a branch and we got to see him! I am the dullest person I know and I’ve embraced it like my children. If I had any children to embrace, that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said: Sometimes we take our cameras down to Sale Water Park and get some great shots of all the birds there. Used my aforementioned Chirp-O-Matic there in the woods and it told me there was a Blackcap nearby. I was delighted when a few minutes later he landed on a branch and we got to see him! We do the same. We live near the Humber Bridge and they've got a great area in the country park where birds visit for food and land right over your head in the arched trees. Everything in focus except the blue tit... Edited November 16, 2023 by tiger_rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_gordo Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 Card carrying bird nerd here. We live semi-rurally i.e there's some farms, fields and nature reserves dotted around the village where I live which means we do get to spot some cool wildlife fairly often. There's a group of three buzzards that regularly circle over our house aswell as a little owl I've seen in a tree a couple of times. I've seen jays on a few occasion and where we used to live at the other end of the village there was a pair of barn owls nesting over the road in a tree that would come out just before dusk and skim over the fields hunting. There's some marsh land where we've seen herons hunting frogs, shitloads of kestrels and a couple of goshawks. We're pretty lucky. Birds just seem to relax me, no idea what it is. Don't think there's anything more peaceful than supping a coffee and looking out of the window on to the back garden and watching the birds splash in our birdbath or listening to this one psychotic starling we get wind our dog up. Just got back from Madeira and I got way too excited at the sight of a peregrine falcon sat on a fence about 8 feet away from where I was stood. Birds are fucking awesome. And sharks. Can we have a shark thread too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 We downloaded and printed the RSPB sheet for the list/catalogue of birds you can spot in London. Seen them all in our garden - took ages to eventually see a dunnock, though. Mentioned this before, but a couple of years ago, we had the shock of our lives when we came home and looked out on to our back garden lawn to see a fucking sparrowhawk tearing away at a collared dove it had swiped out of the air and pinned down. Nature, red in tooth and claw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 Fat wood pigeons are the bane of my bird table. There used to be 3 of them would swoop in every time I topped up the table and go to town on the corn. One day though as one of the fat beggars jumped from the table to the floor to clear up the corn he had spilled he was got by a hawk swooping in. He didn't reach the floor and all that was left was a few feathers as the hawk flew off with his prey. I think it was a common buzzard, there are quite a few around here. Apart from that we get your usual robins, tits, finches and magpies. There are definitely a lot less sparrows than there were and the starlings seem to have disappeared altogether over the last year or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathrey Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 19 minutes ago, Carbomb said: We downloaded and printed the RSPB sheet for the list/catalogue of birds you can spot in London. Seen them all in our garden - took ages to eventually see a dunnock, though. Do they do these guides for other areas too? We moved to a semi-rural area last year and there is so much wildlife around here but my bird knowledge is pretty limited to magpies and robins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 Since moving to Hampshire, I have been lucky enough to see some lovely massive winged birds. No idea what they are/were but 10yo said Red Kite and Kestrels and she would know better than me. We also had a Sparrowhawk in the garden which was gorgeous but flew away before I could grab the phone. Growing up in Hounslow, there was a massive group of parakeets that flew in a cluster over Twickenham/Teddington etc. Rumours ranged from they were Jimi Hendrixs birds that got loose to there was an outbreak at the scientific place in Teddington where they all escaped, but was always a sight to behold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: Fat wood pigeons are the bane of my bird table. There used to be 3 of them would swoop in every time I topped up the table and go to town on the corn. One day though as one of the fat beggars jumped from the table to the floor to clear up the corn he had spilled he was got by a hawk swooping in. He didn't reach the floor and all that was left was a few feathers as the hawk flew off with his prey. I think it was a common buzzard, there are quite a few around here. It's because of those buggers that we dispensed with the table - we just have the fatballs and seeds in feeders. The little birds will spill a few seeds and crumbs anyway, and the pigeons get more than enough from what's on the ground. They're in equal parts amusing and annoying with the bird bath, too - the number of times I've seen a big, fat wood pigeon just sat in the middle of it, puffed out, looking like one of those chunky, red-faced, middle-aged businessmen sat in the sauna. They're like the mediaeval merchants of nature - they walk around like they should be wearing big fur mantles and wearing big rings on each finger, with a jolly laugh. 4 minutes ago, deathrey said: Do they do these guides for other areas too? We moved to a semi-rural area last year and there is so much wildlife around here but my bird knowledge is pretty limited to magpies and robins. Ah, sorry - not checked. Quite appropriately, you can contact them on Twitter - they're very good for getting back to people on there. Edited November 16, 2023 by Carbomb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 I used to have feeders up in the garden which constantly attracted a group of around 20+ Starlings that would descend and decimate the food  in moments. I absolutely loved it but I read if they get too comfortable they'll end up trying to nest in your roof/attic so the Mrs made me stop. 20210705_180751.mp4  We did have a Robin that would chill on the fence until the Starlings fucked off and then he'd have a nibble of what was left. My Mother loved Robins and I've since read that many believe they are your lost loved ones checking in on you so I was always happy to see him.  Fuck it, the feeders are coming back out!    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 4 minutes ago, SuperBacon said: Since moving to Hampshire, I have been lucky enough to see some lovely massive winged birds. No idea what they are/were but 10yo said Red Kite and Kestrels and she would know better than me. We also had a Sparrowhawk in the garden which was gorgeous but flew away before I could grab the phone. Growing up in Hounslow, there was a massive group of parakeets that flew in a cluster over Twickenham/Teddington etc. Rumours ranged from they were Jimi Hendrixs birds that got loose to there was an outbreak at the scientific place in Teddington where they all escaped, but was always a sight to behold. There seem to be lots of reasons given for the parakeets TopRashers. The one I remember hearing first was that they originally escaped when the were filming The African Queen in the 50s. That also seems to be a little far fetched but I do like the thought that these birds are descended from birds that once did a shit on Humphrey Bogart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 13 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: There seem to be lots of reasons given for the parakeets TopRashers. The one I remember hearing first was that they originally escaped when the were filming The African Queen in the 50s. That also seems to be a little far fetched but I do like the thought that these birds are descended from birds that once did a shit on Humphrey Bogart. I’d heard the Jimi Hendrix one but I hadn’t heard this, and I much prefer this idea. It may have been debunked but in the interest of hate, debunkers can piss off with their Pro Bogart propaganda, the wankers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted November 16, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2023 There are a shit-ton of parakeets in Finsbury Park as well. Bit of a menace now. Might be why I've seen a sparrowhawk more times in the past few years than I have in my entire life previously. I had heard there was a colony of parrots on Clapham Common, descended from escaped pets. Hopefully any Sahf Lahndaners on here can confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra_gordo Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 There's a shitload of those green parrots in the trees on the mall/that park near Buckingham Palace. Confused us no end the first time we saw them. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.