The Bird Thread

I use a Zoom H4, which is quite old and has some amp noise but it was v cheap. I wish I could be bothered to carry it with me more of the time. I was on a Bronze Age hill fort the other night taking photos of the stars and things, and I was paid a visit by a very mournful bird which flew round me a few times. May have been a lapwing or a curlew, but the rubbish recording on my phone doesn’t do it justice.

Ahh that's good to know. Do you ever use an external mic or the ones on the machine?

I've been doing a bit of recording and most, well all, of it is pretty crap, but I'm learning . I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed it. It all stems from the infrequent bit of bird watching,there's nothing much I like more than being surrounded by birdsong/nature sounds in a quiet place (i.e. no traffic) and wanted to try and replicate that for when I'm stuck next to our bastard road all day!

No, I have only ever used the built in mics. I’ve not got seriously into field recordings, mainly just a bit prompted by my son’s study of musique concrète.

Cool! When I have something decent to upload and share I will.
I'll carry on trying to get bad pictures of ghost owls too.

Oh, and I have just realised that this peregrine last week was a hobby.

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I think this was a Sparrowhawk. Crappy zoom pic

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"Parklife!"

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'Another 50 shits, boys, and his telly goes off'.

At least they're playing at home and not ski jumping off my Velux windows.

The wagtails (or anyone else for that matter) have shown no interest in the feeders so I was delighted to see this guy taking shelter when I looked out my window earlier, he was back again just now.

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There's a Sparrowhawk at the allotment where I have a plot. I think it had caught a Sparrow but been disturbed as there was a big pile of feathers plus plucked dead small bird. I brought these feathers home. The smalls are 1.5cm bigger ones 5cm. When I passed the spot later the plucked bird had gone. It was a bit grim but guess its good the hawk (or a passing rat) got it's meal in the end. Circle of life n'all that.

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had a sparrowhawk sit on my fence today, where she (for it was a she) methodically ate a pigeon. lots of feathers about and a few entrails after. i wonder what happened to the beak. when i tried to sneak up for a picture, she flew away so i left her to it.

Another crappy set of pictures, 10x zoom of a Gannet Feeding at Cwm Silo today.

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Saw 10 or more swifts this morning. Maybe the last of the year. Loads of ( well, 5) spotted flycatchers yesterday in the same place, lots of chiffchaffs and a few willow warblers. The autumn migration is well underway. The next few weeks are probably my favourite time of year for birds.

These things are awesome.

Like flying spear guns. 😎

Anyone lost a racing Pigeon?

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Yes, someone has!

Try a racing pigeon forum to see if ID is possible from the ring number, there must be a forum...

We had one on our doorstep a few years ago and some googling of the number located the owner who came and collected from a few doors down. He knew it by sight!

Pigeon racing, huh?
Wasn't aware this is a thing!

Wikipedia says

South Africa is the home of the richest one-loft race in the world, the Million Dollar Pigeon Race. The Million Dollar Pigeon Race pits 4,300 birds from 25 countries against each other for a share of $1.3m in prize money

wtf

Pigeon racing as sung about here

at school in the UK (at least in the 90s) we were made to watch a drama series educating us about pigeon racing and its place in UK culture

That's a blast from the past, I'd nearly forgotten Geordie Racer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To277KvvJqc

Got the theme tune in my head now

If it is still there tomorrow I have to throw towels at it or something.

https://www.rpra.org/stray-reporting/

Went out to the river again this morning. Lots of geese and ducks, three ravens, an egret, swallows and a lucky glimpse of a wobbler in the reeds.

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