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Wildlife spotting

Started by Twit 2, August 06, 2018, 12:59:58 PM

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Brian Freeze

Quote from: Twonty Gostelow on November 29, 2021, 11:00:13 AMThey're ace, aren't they? I saw my first one a few weeks back and it's always at the feeders now. They look almost piscine, so streamlined.


Luckily get them on our feeders as well, always feeding upside down. I sometimes think of them as thieves in old-style black eye masks. One of the loveliest liquid calls from the trees as well.
Heard one calling down from a tree yesterday and had forgotten how unusual the call is. To my ears it sounded like an 80's plastic kids laser like what I used to have. I like the thieves comparison too. Ta.

Saw four bullfinches in a tree yesterday at the same time, three male and one female. Extraordinary scenes. Even the kids managed to spot them too. They hung around for a good couple of minutes.


paruses

#2582
Quote from: Brian Freeze on December 02, 2021, 09:02:19 AMHeard one calling down from a tree yesterday and had forgotten how unusual the call is. To my ears it sounded like an 80's plastic kids laser like what I used to have. I like the thieves comparison too. Ta.

Saw four bullfinches in a tree yesterday at the same time, three male and one female. Extraordinary scenes. Even the kids managed to spot them too. They hung around for a good couple of minutes.

Am another one who's recently discovered what they sound like and that's a very good description of it. Stood for ages a couple weeks ago listening to one going at it in the woods. Seem to have a regular visitor now on the feeder so will enjoy it while it lasts.

Not to troll @Voltan (Man of Steel) but the goldfinches are still hanging around in numbers in the garden - even though I failed to fill the feeders for a few days which usually means they nob off to somewhere better.

Edit - the first paragraph is about nutchatcheses.

Quote from: paruses on December 02, 2021, 09:58:01 AMNot to troll @Voltan (Man of Steel) but the goldfinches are still hanging around in numbers in the garden - even though I failed to fill the feeders for a few days which usually the nob off to somewhere better.
I don't know what I've done to piss our lot off then - I've even replenished the niger seeds but I'm getting no goldfinch action. On the plus side, the bird table and other feeder filled with suet balls are keeping the local squirrels and magpies well fed.

Porky

Haldon Pier at Torquay is almost always good for a Shag .. usually a couple of them .. for some reason I never see Cormorants there.

jobotic

Had a little ride to the Medway estuary on Tuesday, good haul

shelduck
pintail
wigeon
teal
oystercatchers
lapwings
ringed plovers
bar tailed godwits
redshanks
curlews

plus robins, blackbirds, wrens and shit

love a bit of mud in the winter

Mr Eggs

Quote from: jobotic on December 02, 2021, 04:22:41 PMHad a little ride to the Medway estuary on Tuesday, good haul

shelduck
pintail
wigeon
teal
oystercatchers
lapwings
ringed plovers
bar tailed godwits
redshanks
curlews

plus robins, blackbirds, wrens and shit

love a bit of mud in the winter

Sounds ace. Don't want to derail the the thread or owt, but have you had any negative interactions with the ones that self identify as PROPER BIRDERS (The ones that have a patch list, a year list, a life list, etc...). All blinged up with £3000 of Technical glass?


Buelligan

Only online, when one was really very helpful in identifying a Scops owl (from a description of a sound).  He even sent me some confirmatory sound files. 

All I can say is before you judge a person, walk a day in their Merrell men's Moab Edge 2 waterproof sneakers.

The only thing that's sat still long enough or been slow enough for me to photograph recently - a bullfinch posing as a Christmas tree ornament.

Hares, deer and foxes in the snow have all been too swift for me to get more than a glimpse.


Twonty Gostelow

^  That could be a stonechat, Clatty - I'm not sure. The beak doesn't look right for a bullfinch.

paruses

Quote from: Twonty Gostelow on December 04, 2021, 08:52:03 PM^  That could be a stonechat, Clatty - I'm not sure. The beak doesn't look right for a bullfinch.

I think so. Lovely pic.

Quote from: Twonty Gostelow on December 04, 2021, 08:52:03 PM^  That could be a stonechat, Clatty - I'm not sure. The beak doesn't look right for a bullfinch.

Quote from: paruses on December 04, 2021, 09:01:54 PMI think so. Lovely pic.

Thanks for the corrections - I think you're spot on. I've had another bird identification nightmare here, a bit like earlier in the thread when I labelled a wheatear as a chaffinch! I'll need to remember and look at beak shape/size. And probably start presenting photos without comment to avoid any more mistakes.

Twonty Gostelow

Quote from: Clatty McCutcheon on December 04, 2021, 09:28:42 PMThanks for the corrections - I think you're spot on. I've had another bird identification nightmare here, a bit like earlier in the thread when I labelled a wheatear as a chaffinch! I'll need to remember and look at beak shape/size. And probably start presenting photos without comment to avoid any more mistakes.

No, it's easily done - I misidentify birds from a distance pretty regularly, especially in autumn and winter when their colours are fainter. Although it's what they're like on the inside that counts.✌️

Attila

Yep -- one of the reasons we got our hedgehog camera was walking out the back door one morning to be greeted with scenes of absolute carnage (blood, quills, &c) and badger-shaped footprints. It took a while that time for the hedgehogs to come back, but eventually they did.

At present the Party Palace is being visited by about 4-5 neighbourhood cats, a pair of magpies who come every morning, and one or two persistent, increasingly shaggy=against=winter foxes. Other guests include a tiny field mouse, sometimes a morning robin, and a few other assorted critters. The fox activity isn't as much as it was, but I'm glad to see them out there. No hedgehogs for the past several weeks, but I suspect they've all gone to sleep for the winter.

As much as I loathe being stuck with daily train trips to campus, I do like that it's invariably gloomy twilight on the return (still dark in the mornings now), as the fields are filled with deer, pheasants, and sometimes other animals. Friday there was an eerie, low-hanging mist cling to the fields and winding through the scrubby trees along my route, and it was lovely seeing the ghostly shape of deer in it.

Also: moons & stars pictures I think are acceptible as wildlife! The only other benefit of being on a railway platform at stupid dark o'clock every morning has been views of stars and morning-star planets the past few weeks.

Quote from: paruses on November 26, 2021, 08:19:02 AMApart from cars they are the main natural predator of hedgehogs.

Funny how stuff can be hyper-localised. The equivalent of maybe 12 doors down from me has yellowhammer dripping from his trees at certain times of the year and I've never seen one in the garden or neighbouring gardens/trees.

Twonty Gostelow

Quote from: Twonty Gostelow on November 29, 2021, 11:00:13 AMWe're currently getting visits on the lawn from jays. We usually see them in nearby oak trees but apparently this autumn has been a bad season for acorns, so they're obviously more in need of other food sources.

Managed to get a few photos from an upstairs window today




Spent a while watching this bird hovering across the hillsides yesterday, on the hunt for prey. Anyone good at identifying raptors in flight from slightly blurry zoomed photos? Not even going to venture a guess after my recent bird ID failures.




Gurke and Hare

Might be a buzzard. Might not be though.

Quote from: Clatty McCutcheon on December 10, 2021, 02:32:04 PMSpent a while watching this bird hovering across the hillsides yesterday, on the hunt for prey. Anyone good at identifying raptors in flight from slightly blurry zoomed photos? Not even going to venture a guess after my recent bird ID failures.




Beautiful scenery. If that's on your doorstep I'm more than a little jealous.

Quote from: Voltan (Man of Steel) on December 10, 2021, 03:41:16 PMBeautiful scenery. If that's on your doorstep I'm more than a little jealous.

Is about 20 miles away, but close enough to ditch the computer screen for an afternoon to go there, given the chance.

I thought it looked a bit too compact to be a buzzard, but could be wrong.

Spoon of Ploff

Quote from: Clatty McCutcheon on December 10, 2021, 02:32:04 PMSpent a while watching this bird hovering across the hillsides yesterday, on the hunt for prey. Anyone good at identifying raptors in flight from slightly blurry zoomed photos? Not even going to venture a guess after my recent bird ID failures.





Isn't that Glebe in a wingsuit?

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Saw two buzzards in Co. Wexford last week. Unfortunately I was driving so couldn't take a picture. They were together so hopefully it's a breeding pair.

DoesNotFollow

Only sort of spotting related, but as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend I've been illustrating a section of our garden from summer, with plants and several bird and bug species. I'm getting this turned into a jigsaw puzzle.


Twit 2

Barn owl late afternoon by the river. Couldn't get a very good photo though:


purlieu

Quote from: Clatty McCutcheon on December 04, 2021, 09:28:42 PMThanks for the corrections - I think you're spot on. I've had another bird identification nightmare here, a bit like earlier in the thread when I labelled a wheatear as a chaffinch!
If you can teach yourself general shapes then it's a great start. Finches are generally seed- and nut- munching birds, so they all have pretty chunky, sturdy bills. The same with their cousins, buntings and sparrows. Bill shape can be an important signifier of family. your photo is definitely a stonechat. One of my favourite birds, haven't seen any this year yet!

My dad's photos, but here are bramblings we saw last week. There seems to have been an influx of them this year, there was a flock of 500+ finches, and at least 200 of them were bramblings. For a bird you normally see a handful of every year, at most, it was remarkable.



bgmnts

Absolutely love little birds that have a "u fukin wot mate?" face.

Brian Freeze

Quote from: DoesNotFollow on December 11, 2021, 09:56:27 PMOnly sort of spotting related, but as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend I've been illustrating a section of our garden from summer, with plants and several bird and bug species. I'm getting this turned into a jigsaw puzzle.



Thats tremendous, top pencil skills there.

purlieu

Quote from: bgmnts on December 13, 2021, 12:35:59 AMAbsolutely love little birds that have a "u fukin wot mate?" face.
That's the finch family for you then. Always spoiling for a fight.



paruses

Quote from: Clatty McCutcheon on December 10, 2021, 02:32:04 PMSpent a while watching this bird hovering across the hillsides yesterday, on the hunt for prey. Anyone good at identifying raptors in flight from slightly blurry zoomed photos? Not even going to venture a guess after my recent bird ID failures.

Nah - keep going. It's a bit Live Love Laugh but you only really learn from mistakes. I got into ringing because I enjoyed the social side and also the mechanics of it rather than most who got into it from being birders. My id skills were absolutely shit when I started but they're good now only by making mistakes and having stuff pointed out like @purlieu says with bills, then shapes, then behaviour. And I promise - I have very shaky confidence and hate being wrong so it's all an effort for me. Just don't start hanging around with gull people - they split species just because they have finished identifying all the birds and need new ones to argue about.

Quote from: Mr Eggs on December 02, 2021, 11:20:09 PMSounds ace. Don't want to derail the the thread or owt, but have you had any negative interactions with the ones that self identify as PROPER BIRDERS (The ones that have a patch list, a year list, a life list, etc...). All blinged up with £3000 of Technical glass?

Have you @Mr Eggs ? At various reserves I've only found them to be slightly territorial bores rather than anything else. The ones who've exhausted their capacity for spending on Leica and Swarovski and so gone into photography are worse. They get shitty when you turn up to a patch to have a look because it takes them so long to set up with their massive 8 foot lenses and tripods that take up the area of a new build that they love to blame anyone else for a bird fucking off before they've filled their 256gb card up with one shutter press.

purlieu

Yeah, on the whole birders tend to be a decent bunch and are usually ok to chat and help you out if necessary. There are certainly tedious snobs about, but they're very few and far between.

Gull people are scary. My dad's writing a book about birds in Leicestershire with his mate who's a gull guy. Lovely bloke, but he spends hours just watching huge flocks through his binoculars, trying to find different variants of lesser black backs and stuff. He even chooses his holiday locations based on what gulls they have there.

Dex Sawash

My favorite thing about gulls was there are all sorts of different looking ones but they are all just gulls.
Now I find out that tedious bird wankers have split them up too.