The Bird Thread

It’s actually my mates balcony opposite my block but I do hear them on a daily basis,

That's flippin amazing. I love peregrines. I used to work in Waterloo and would spend lunchtimes lurking around the tower blocks on the corner of Waterloo bridge Rd and The Cut looking up for them on the roof there.

Look at those claws. Imagine that hooking into a pigeon from above at 200mph.

Yeah I know their amazing but unfortunately I’ve just raised two pigeons on my balcony this year and the female adult pigeon never returned one day so guessing she may have fallen prey to the peregrines
excuse the pun

oof. soz.

My "rescued" baby starlings didn't last long with the cats round here. At least Peregrines don't shit on your* lawn.

*or your balcony.

Just seen this young'un - a/the same Peregrine?

It was being badgered by a pair of blackbirds non-stop so hard to miss!

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Love that last photo.

Someone needs to add speech bubbles. 😎

The peregrine really is the spitting image of the Egyptian God of the Sky, Horus.

Very possible same location yesterday I saw some crows chasing it

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Amazing....
Yes, could well be the same. I heard about a nest somewhere in Hackney a couple of years ago exact location was kept under wraps - perhaps this young'un came from there this year.

Why are birds (and animals) of prey so photogenic?

I know where they nest and it’s slightly changes location each year hush hush

That is a very young bird - recently fledged.

Had a great chat with a lapwing in a lay-by on the A628 yesterday. I’d stopped to let some huge lorries go the fuck away, and it popped out of a drainage ditch and yelled at me. I yelled back, politely. The discourse continued for a while until it got offended by something I said and flew away. Pity I didn’t have my camera, great looking birds. 10/10 would chat again.

I find this story interesting. I'm not quite clear if he rescued the pigeon when she fell out of a nest still immature (only a commentator says that; he says she was «à peine plumée», 'hardly feathered', so that may refer to her being immature or having had feathers ripped out), although I assume so. Either way, you hear about this sort of thing, 'friendship' (which I think he says some good things about) from time to time. The pigeon evidently feels safe there.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/18/together-because-it-feels-good-french-man-who-goes-everywhere-with-a-pigeon

I think this is a better edit of the material in the video, although it is in French:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9lDh-p9OMBg

I also really like the French word 'la pigeonne'.

Almost got hit in the face by a barn owl on Wednesday. 10/10 would ride lanes at night again.

Met a corn bunting for the first time last night

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Had a day canoeing on the Medway at Yalding yesterday, lots of Kingfishers to watch, was really nice as I don't normally see them, also spotted a white squirrel which was unusual

Seen a Partridge today which was a nice change, only normally see Pheasant for game birds (excl. mallards)

Enjoyed watching this reed (?) warbler hop around on the lily pads

Love it when birds just walk on water like that. Messes with your head a bit at first. I watched a grey wagtail hopping from one clump of water weeds to another the other day, catching flies as it went.

At the other end of the avian size scale I saw 20-30 red kites all in/over one field yesterday. It had been recently cultivated so I guess exposed lots of easy bite sized prey.

Sedge warbler.
The eyestripe and the cream fringing of the wing feathers are the key identifiers.

perfect, thanks!

Bought a couple more old russian postcards with cool birds on 'em -

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Really enjoyed watching a pair of woodpeckers in the woods a couple of weeks ago going back and forth feeding some very noisy chicks

A few months ago we got loads of birds in our garden. Lots of starlings (and young), robins, etc. Now we barely get any. Is this expected during summer or do we need to tempt them back somehow?

Not unexpected. They’ll be back. There’s loads of food out there so they can find food quite readily, and adult birds are also starting their midsummer moult. When they moult their flying abilities are poorer and they’re vulnerable to predation, so many of them are quiet and skulking until they get their new plumage.

goldfinch, and a pied wagtail that decided to bugger off JUST as I framed the shot