Where have all our garden birds gone?

[Mallard60022]

Not something I've seen before, an albino cock pheasant

BM1K6832.JPG

Spookily one of those has appeared at the Idle Valley Reserve in the last fortnight. Never seen one before either.

Phil

[Phil Bullock]

Spookily one of those has appeared at the Idle Valley Reserve in the last fortnight. Never seen one before either.

Phil

 

Cant imagine they will survive long. At least the melanistic sport can hide in the shadows....

 

Phil

[darren01]

Saw my first Swift/House martian today flying over the grave yard.

[The Lurker]

Saw my first Swift/House martian today flying over the grave yard.

it must have had a tough time, coming all the way from Mars

[coachmann]

Flying but not a bird....... I saw a Daddylonglegs or Cranefly yesterday.  Not seen one in April before. They tend to be around in September/October. I read up on them and they are around June to September, so the one I saw it two months early!

Edited April 22, 2018 by coachmann

[Budgie]

Just spotted a nest under the garden railway baseboard by post 42. As I was looking (not too closely), a wren flew out past my nose at a rate of knots. Wonderful.

Edited April 22, 2018 by Budgie

[Tim Hall]

it must have had a tough time, coming all the way from Mars

 

Went to a party there once. Terrible, hardly any atmosphere (That "joke" is currently awaiting a telegram from the Queen...)

Edited April 22, 2018 by Tim Hall

[jbqfc]

while out doing the garden this morning i had to keep stopping as the blue tits kept shouting at me to move so they could feed 

also has the sparrows eating dandelion flowers witch seemed a bit odd 

[Tim Dubya]

while out doing the garden this morning i had to keep stopping as the blue tits kept shouting at me to move so they could feed 

 

I've had my head attacked by many a blue tit but not this year, their usual box is now a bee-house.

[Mallard60022]

Two lumpy B Bird Fledges keeping the parents busy this morning. They can just about fly if required.

Also saw the first House Martian (much better name IMO) above our garden this morning. I t was complaining about a joke it had heard

Phibber

[jetmorgan]

while out doing the garden this morning i had to keep stopping as the blue tits kept shouting at me to move so they could feed 

also has the sparrows eating dandelion flowers witch seemed a bit odd 

The sparrows often demolish my primrose flowers in my garden, I think birds eating flowers is quite common.

[SRman]

Meanwhile, over here in Melbourne, Australia, Autumn is just starting to kick in. We have been inundated with cockatoos around the school I work in. The photos were all taken on my mobile phone, and will benefit from a bit of zooming in.

The first two photos are from my office window, looking towards Riversdale station, which is behind the row of trees halfway up the hill. The cockies were flocking around the school oval, before suddenly taking off and heading to the trees along the railway line.


Sulphur Crested Cockatoos at CHS 28-03-18 - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


Sulphur Crested Cockatoos at CHS 28-03-18 - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


This last photo was taken in the car park; most regular staff know not to park in the bay under this tree, if they don't wish to have their paintwork dissolved!


Cockatoos in CHS Car Park Tree 23-04-18 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Edited April 25, 2018 by SRman

[Tim Dubya]

Not in the garden but I spotted my first male Bullfinch of the year this morning, a rare treat but I have been informed there is a flock of at least 12 in Rainbow Woods along the road from us.

We did get a visiting male a couple of years back and I did find a dead fledgling that year too.  It was perfectly intact so I don't think it had been predated.

 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Tim Dubya

[steve1]

Our back lawn seems to have become a magnet for blackbirds.

 

steve

[Joseph_Pestell]

Hardly any birds about here at all this weekend with temperature down in single figures. Last weekend we were spotting several varieties from our bedroom early in the morning.

 

Plenty of housemartins now arrived in Southern France. Hire car will have needed serious cleaning after we returned it to the airport yesterday afternoon.

[jonny777]

I was doing a bit of gardening this afternoon, and heard some strange noises coming from across the road. When I looked in that direction there was a grey heron sitting right at the top of a silver birch tree about 50 yards away. 

 

With the strong Easterly wind, the tree was swaying all over the place and the heron was having a problem remaining upright. Not helping, and the source of the commotion, was that the heron was being mobbed by a rook which seemed to be failing in its attempts to move the heron on. 

 

I'm not quite sure whether the heron was considering a nest site there, or whether it was sizing up the rooks nest for a raid on eggs. 

[Guest CLARENCE]

Where have our birds gone?

Well, one ended up flattened against our kitchen window, judging by the image left on the glass!

Don't know what happened to the bird, no sign of it.

 

 

 

Sorry about the quality of the image, spoilt by smears on the window; thought it worth recording though!

[dhjgreen]

Where have our birds gone?

Well, one ended up flattened against our kitchen window, judging by the image left on the glass!

Don't know what happened to the bird, no sign of it.

 

New Image.jpg

 

window bird.jpg

 

Sorry about the quality of the image, spoilt by smears on the window; thought it worth recording though!

Quite unusual for them to be badly hurt, they can generally fly off. How big is it, pigeons are quite stupid.

[jonny777]

Quite unusual for them to be badly hurt, they can generally fly off. How big is it, pigeons are quite stupid.

 

 

Looks like a collared dove imprint to me. 

 

We get a few of those when the sparrowhawk swoops in from the heavens. 

[dhjgreen]

I think we have a French crow, it is eating tadpoles from our pond!

[shortliner]

Early(ish) Sunday morning (around 0900)- here in the Great Frozen North - I saw my first Sand martin of the year - We have a sand quarry about 100 yards behind us where they nest.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I am now getting a regular 'shouting at' by a wren as I walk out of the kitchen door. They have once again selected the remains of an old ventaxia port in our outhouse as a nest site it would appear. Every year I plan to block it up, and every time after the occupants (wrens, robins) have flown, I forget. The robins of course are now in the incinerator, which is full of the woodland twiggy fall out, and hasn't yet this year been dry enough to ignite...

 

I think we have a French crow, it is eating tadpoles from our pond!

 That will be a Jacquesdaw then.

[Mallard60022]

04.45 this morning the first Blackbird started up. Lovely singing, however it woke me up!

The Housemartins that arrived a few days ago have disappeared. I do hope they didn't freeze to death at the weekend.

Phil

[lightengine]

Just seen 2 coal tits, 2 goldfinches and a sparrow feeding on a plant covered section of a low wall in my garden. Sharing a space less than 18" long. One of the tits took the worm into the balding Christmas tree and thrashed it on a branch

[coachmann]

All the small birds including blackbirds disappeared from our area earlier in the year. It seems a buzzard from up in't mountains came down and killed a few off, so the rest fled.