P&B Bird Watch

[RiG]

Sparrowhawk. 

[Dan Steele]

21 minutes ago, Crawford Bridge said:

Can anybody tell me what it is?

Sparrowhawk, I think. That's carnage!

[Crawford Bridge]

Just now, The Skelpit Lug said:

Sparrowhawk, I think. That's carnage!

I'm about 8ft away from it.

I can't take my eyes away.

[House Bartender]

5 hours ago, The Skelpit Lug said:

Sparrowhawk, I think. That's carnage!

We've had that too. Nothing beats a pigeon supper...

(Vinegar or broon sauce?)

[Clockwork]

I'm about 8ft away from it.
I can't take my eyes away.

Saw one battling with a Jay (giving as good as it got) whilst out walking along the Tay near Dunkeld a few years back, seemingly oblivious that we were just a few yards away. The Female Sparrowhawk was having none of it though, eventually overpowering its prey and devouring it right there in front of us, no f*cks given, feathers blowing everywhere. It was quite an alarming sight!![emoji15]

[Hedgecutter]

One of those decapitated a pigeon in our garden a couple of years ago, leaving the head for my other to find whilst hanging out the washing.  Didn't see a single small bird in the garden for about a fortnight after that.

[Hillonearth]

Looks like we've got Long-tailed Tits nesting in the garden this year...last couple of days had a pair taking turns to flutter up the bay window to get nesting material from under the eaves...seem to be disappearing into the same bush to build the nest. There's loads of them around here all winter, but previously they seem to have retreated into the woods nearby of a summer.

[The Mantis]

Was at Musselburgh a couple of months back. This Crow held a Bar Tailed Godwit under till it drowned, then started to pluck it (go easy on the Kenneth Williams gifs). Must have been ill as it never put up much of a struggle.

[jamamafegan]

Was at Musselburgh a couple of months back. This Crow held a Bar Tailed Godwit under till it drowned, then started to pluck it (go easy on the Kenneth Williams gifs). Must have been ill as it never put up much of a struggle.

That’s an incredible sighting. Wonder if the godwit was actually ill. Maybe the avian flu, which is rife at the moment. I found several dead pink footed geese, a dead buzzard and a wood pigeon at a site recently. Reported it to DEFRA who collected the birds. They called me last night to say that they had indeed died of bird flu. Very sad and worrying for our birds across the country.

[Fife Saint]

I've got a blackbird who sits on a wire beside my garden who is mimicking all sorts of stuff and will repeat a pattern if you whistle to him/her. Is that normal?

[HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows]

1 minute ago, Fife Saint said:

I've got a blackbird who sits on a wire beside my garden who is mimicking all sorts of stuff and will repeat a pattern if you whistle to him/her. Is that normal?

There was a bird at mine in the first months of lockdown that would mimic a car alarm first thing in the morning, right down to "boop-beep" of it getting turned off. Never could spot what species but could hear it moving up the street from garden to garden. 

There was also a crow that used to sit at the pitch we played football at as a boy, mimicking a house phone ringing.

[Fife Saint]

There was a bird at mine in the first months of lockdown that would mimic a car alarm first thing in the morning, right down to "boop-beep" of it getting turned off. Never could spot what species but could hear it moving up the street from garden to garden. 
There was also a crow that used to sit at the pitch we played football at as a boy, mimicking a house phone ringing.

I know starlings make cool mimic noises but I hadn't heard a blackbird do really elaborate noises and then copy noises you make to it. Ill try record it tonight if its hanging about.

[jamamafegan]

Delighted to see my first ever bearded tit today down the Tay reed beds. I could hear them around me in the reeds but they weren't for coming out into the open for about 3hrs until this male finally appeared. Also had a water rail calling just metres away from me but I couldn't see it for the reeds. Another one to tick off another time.

Another go at the reef beds a couple of weeks back. Some decent shots but again, not the ones I’m after! Crafty little shits. Got some great views of them though, they hung about for good bit.

[philpy]

[Enigma]

Early Osprey at Loch of the Lowes.

[Shotgun]

On 12/03/2022 at 11:08, philpy said:

Great catch. What time of day was this taken Philpy?

[philpy]

12 hours ago, Shotgun said:

Great catch. What time of day was this taken Philpy?

Around 5pm.

[Eednud]

They’re sometimes called bin chickens or tip turkeys in eastern Australia but the white ibis seem to avoid Adelaide rubbish. 

[tamthebam]

I was listening to a palae... paley... paelie... wan o thae dinosaur fellas on the radio last night (The Life Scientific on Radio 4- it's interesting if you're a geek) and he made the point that feathers, beaks, wishbones, and wings had evolved in dinosaurs before birds came along and at some point they had all combined in some small dinosaur to make the ancestor of the first bird. 

He also said that if you've ever seen a seagull attack you for your chips you can imagine how they've evolved from dinosaurs..! 

[Hillonearth]

16 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

I was listening to a palae... paley... paelie... wan o thae dinosaur fellas on the radio last night (The Life Scientific on Radio 4- it's interesting if you're a geek) and he made the point that feathers, beaks, wishbones, and wings had evolved in dinosaurs before birds came along and at some point they had all combined in some small dinosaur to make the ancestor of the first bird. 

He also said that if you've ever seen a seagull attack you for your chips you can imagine how they've evolved from dinosaurs..! 

Yeah, it's odd to think that dinosaurs never really died out as such, although obviously Chicxulub got rid of all the megafaunal stuff. The therapods were well on the way to evolving into birds anyway by that point - a while back it seemed like Archaeopteryx was a bit of an evolutionary leap, but some of the intermediate things they've found especially in China fill in a lot of the gaps.

There's very little difference between the likes of Anchiornis, which was a late period dinobird that they now even know what colour its feathers were and a primitive basal true bird like the hoatzin which is a weird prehistoric survival in the Amazon.