The Mantis Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 (edited) 17 hours ago, tamthebam said: I've seen eiders shelter by the rocks under the seabird centre at North Berwick. Closer than that Tam, you can get them sheltering below the harbour wall at Fisherrow like this one Couple from last week: Edited February 5, 2020 by The Mantis 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 (edited) I can't remember the last time I saw any birds in my garden ever since that sparrowhawk made a couple of appearances what must have been a good few months ago, this is despite having food and a bird bath out. Therefore, I don't think I can just blame the weather as the garden became bird-barren overnight (not surprising when you end up with headless pigeons). Before that the garden and the large beech hedge border (yes, I do have a hedge!) was teeming with them, but now absolutely nothing except the very occasional 'don't give a f***' magpie. Eta: Also used to have a blackbird that my other half called 'Shifty' as he'd see you at the window and just stare at you face on for minutes on end, before gradually bouncing closer and closer. It was strangely disconcerting tbh. Edited February 6, 2020 by Hedgecutter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 (edited) On 03/01/2020 at 13:41, Rizzo said: My dog found a young wood pigeon cowering under a car during the school October holidays. Poor thing had an injury of some kind on its neck and I was convinced a vet would euthanise it as the wound stunk quite a bit. He seemed perky otherwise so we decided to do a bit of home rehab. Fast forward a couple of weeks of him living in our old chicken run, having the wound cleaned with salt water and packed with manuka honey along with some antibiotics he made a full recovery. The wee git is now hanging about and eating all the bloody seed we put out for the other birds. Can't remember if I've told this before, but when I was younger our dog at the time found a kestrel that very obviously had broken its wing. Other than that it seemed to be in good health but it didn't put up any fight when we went to handle it as if it knew what the situation was (although in hindsight it might have just been starving and low on energy). Instead of just leaving it, we decided to take it to the animal welfare centre, but whatever it was at the time was closed on this particular Sunday evening (this was before we had internet so further info was scarce). Therefore we took the executive decision to take him home and let him stay in the spare bedroom until it reopened, albeit with a length of string tied to it's leg to minimise the area that may potentially have got covered in bird shite. Went through on the Monday morning and it was perched happy enough, not a drop of shite anywhere. After getting a photo of it happily perched on my head even with the string taken off (I'm presuming that not many people have had a wild bird of prey doing this!), we then put him back in his box and took him off to the centre for fixing and what I presume was a happy future ripping out the guts of many a vole. Edited February 7, 2020 by Hedgecutter 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugna Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Hedgecutter said: Can't remember if I've told this before, but when I was younger our dog at the time found a kestrel that very obviously had broken wing whilst we were out walking. Other than that it seemed to be in good health but it didn't put up any fight when we went to handle it as if it knew what the situation was (although in hindsight it might have just been starving and low on energy). Instead of just leaving it, we decided to take it to the animal welfare centre, but whatever it was at the time was closed on this particular Sunday evening (this was before we had internet so further info was scarce). Therefore we took the executive decision to take him home and let him stay in the spare bedroom until it reopened, albeit with a length of string tied to it's leg to minimise the area that may potentially have got covered in bird shite. Went through on the Monday morning and it was perched happy enough, not a drop of shite anywhere. After getting a photo of it happily perched on my head even with the string taken off (I'm presuming that not many people have had a wild bird of prey doing this!), we then put him back in his box and took him off to the centre for fixing and what I presume was a happy future ripping out the guts of many a (ideally wild) rabbit. Change that last word to "vole", please. Otherwise, an excellent tale. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, Hedgecutter said: Can't remember if I've told this before, but when I was younger our dog at the time found a kestrel that very obviously had broken wing whilst we were out walking. Other than that it seemed to be in good health but it didn't put up any fight when we went to handle it as if it knew what the situation was (although in hindsight it might have just been starving and low on energy). Instead of just leaving it, we decided to take it to the animal welfare centre, but whatever it was at the time was closed on this particular Sunday evening (this was before we had internet so further info was scarce). Therefore we took the executive decision to take him home and let him stay in the spare bedroom until it reopened, albeit with a length of string tied to it's leg to minimise the area that may potentially have got covered in bird shite. Went through on the Monday morning and it was perched happy enough, not a drop of shite anywhere. After getting a photo of it happily perched on my head even with the string taken off (I'm presuming that not many people have had a wild bird of prey doing this!), we then put him back in his box and took him off to the centre for fixing and what I presume was a happy future ripping out the guts of many a vole. They'll have put it down before you back at the car. Edited February 6, 2020 by Sergeant Wilson 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 11 hours ago, Hedgecutter said: Can't remember if I've told this before, but when I was younger our dog at the time found a kestrel that very obviously had broken wing whilst we were out walking. Other than that it seemed to be in good health but it didn't put up any fight when we went to handle it as if it knew what the situation was (although in hindsight it might have just been starving and low on energy). Instead of just leaving it, we decided to take it to the animal welfare centre, but whatever it was at the time was closed on this particular Sunday evening (this was before we had internet so further info was scarce). Therefore we took the executive decision to take him home and let him stay in the spare bedroom until it reopened, albeit with a length of string tied to it's leg to minimise the area that may potentially have got covered in bird shite. Went through on the Monday morning and it was perched happy enough, not a drop of shite anywhere. After getting a photo of it happily perched on my head even with the string taken off (I'm presuming that not many people have had a wild bird of prey doing this!), we then put him back in his box and took him off to the centre for fixing and what I presume was a happy future ripping out the guts of many a vole. Was Brian Glover your PE teacher by any chance? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 No pics (it was nighttime and only had the mobile with me) but I was cheered up by hearing a male tawny owl* in George Square this evening. (The female goes twit, the male twoo..) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 Quick drive out to Nairn today to try and photograph a King eider that people were reporting. Unfortunately it had moved away from the coast out to open sea but I still managed to get a shot as proof of my sighting! Glad to say I can tick this bird off! Would be great to see one up closer as they are beautiful ducks. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wile E Coyote Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 13 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Quick drive out to Nairn today to try and photograph a King eider that people were reporting. Unfortunately it had moved away from the coast out to open sea but I still managed to get a shot as proof of my sighting! Glad to say I can tick this bird off! Would be great to see one up closer as they are beautiful ducks. Saw one about 10 or 12 years ago at Irvine beach. It was reasonably close to shore so got good views. Stunning bird 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathematics Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 What’s this? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 What’s this?Difficult to tell, I’m stumped. Got any more photos of it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathematics Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 12 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Difficult to tell, I’m stumped. Got any more photos of it? Afraid not. Quite a long neck. Dived for a while. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 Afraid not. Quite a long neck. Dived for a while.It’s got a weird looking head but if it’s long necked and diving my guess is a cormorant. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fife Saint Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 That's an interesting one, its sitting higher in the water than a cormorant normally would and the neck doesn't look as snake like.Was it facing you when you took that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackislekillie Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 2 hours ago, mathematics said: What’s this? Forward thinking attack duck? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 3 hours ago, mathematics said: What’s this? I can't make out your photo very well on my phone but is it a male gooseander? There were a couple on Figgate Pond today 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugna Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 3 hours ago, mathematics said: What’s this? Where did you see it (location and habitat - coastal, freshwater, etc), and do you have any other information about its behaviour? Also, the bill is hard to distinguish from that photo, and particularly the angle: can you describe it? I'm too am stumped, defaulting to an unsatisfactory cormorant*. * Rather than an unsatisfactory shag ... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clockwork Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 What’s this?Black Throated Diver https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/black-throated-diver/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DA Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 4 hours ago, mathematics said: What’s this? Coot? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathematics Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 2 hours ago, Fife Saint said: That's an interesting one, its sitting higher in the water than a cormorant normally would and the neck doesn't look as snake like. Was it facing you when you took that? It was 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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