The Bird Thread

Dinosaur x Coot

A very wary woodpecker

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Superb pic. I have only seen them in the wild once on the Isles of Scilly, gorgeous creatures!

Papped a redstart on my morning walk, have seen them on the wing before but I don’t think I’ve had the privilege of seeing one stationary. Striking little things.

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After a year of sitting in my house / garden listening to the local owls and thinking “Show yourself your cowards” one of the buggers finally flew over my garden. Get in.

Presume this is a hungry juvenile sitting on a local chimney stack, given the absolute noise it is making

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A Wood Pigeon surveying the local allotments this evening - probably trying to work out what to eat next.

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I quite like wood pigeons, even when they empty the bird bath in seconds. Especially then

One landed on our parakeet's cage when she was out on the lawn yesterday. Didn't even flinch

Went to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve last week. Wonderful place to see wading birds and just a lovely bit of land too. Well worth a visit if you're down that way.

Those of a nervous disposition, move right on.
Mature, distant neighbour contacted me.
He had found a headless carcass of a bird on his lawn.
He and his wife keep a bird feeder topped up to encourage small birds,
and,
have had regular visits from a (wood?) pigeon for close on a decade.

I was unable to identfy the carcass.
Pictures here.

Anyone care to offer an identification?

Looks to me like a juvenile gull of some sort

Thanks for the reply.
I'm wondering if the squared off tail and the long wings are diagnostic.
There are some 'gulls' in Ruislip, thanks to the Lido attracting some Terns.
I'm not certain of the colouration of juvenile Terns.

I would not expect terns to have that barring on the tail feathers (except perhaps for a sandwich tern - but they have black legs) and (unless my sense of scale is wrong) those feet look a bit bulky for any tern.

Might also be worth warning your neighbour about the current avian flu situation, and to avoid any contact with dead birds. Even though that particular one has obviously been attacked by something, it might have been carrion carried from elsewhere by a now sick bird of prey :(

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu

Thanks for that reminder.
Fortunately distant neighbour was a scientist, so has worn rubber gloves when handling the carcass, and the plethora of feathers he picked up.

I'll check to see which other gulls frequent the Lido.

Ah, so the distance is genealogical rather than geographical.

Reed warbler at lunchtime

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Kite being quiet for a change

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And noisy again

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Saw a Hobby trying to catch a goldfinch for breakfast. Pretty stoked because I’ve always wanted to see one and I got about 2 seconds of ringside action as the pursuit played out in front of me as I cycled along a lane

The Hobby. The one QI fact about table football that I drag out frequently is - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subbuteo

Yeah I read that this morning:)

Couple from this week

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