The Bird Thread

Lovely!

Horrible photo but Grey Wagtail is a new one for me, fun thing when you never bothered to take notice of birds before, there is a lot of low hanging fruit that you can get excited about as firsts, this was on the bank of the Trent and Mersey canal

In the next exciting episode of “rescuing fledglings from my house”, I’m currently staking out the log burner as a bird has fallen down the chimney and is in the flue just above the stove.

I was watching swallows by the river the other day and spotted one with no head

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ha!

In other news, up in the lakes think I saw one of the ospreys that nest near bassenthwaite (spelling?). Didn't have my bins though so not 100% sure!

Otherwise, usual mix of kites, buzzards, kestrels, tree creepers, nuthatches, chaffinches etc. Also saw a Siskin which was nice. All in all, was lovely.

Had a few starlings in the garden after a year long absence, what started off as a lovely visit from the Noisy Boys (as they are affectionately named in our house) quickly turned sour when I realised a magpie was harassing them, and trying catch one.

Normally I let nature be nature, but the last thing I needed was bird corpse in the garden, so I shooed the magpie away, but the little starling was unable to fly, not sure if it was permanent or short term, but he hid down the side of the shed, i threw some fat ball down there to give him a little dinner, and moved a stool near so he could hop up (he tried flying but couldn't get enough lift, and kept hitting the fence)
After maybe 10 minutes, he came out and flew onto the stool, then onto a (Taller) tree stump, then the fence, then flew up into a neighbours tree, where his avian brethren had been waiting and singing for him.

We had a little noisy boy starling in the garden earlier, he nicked some lavender then legged it.

Saw an Eurasian jay the other day (NL) from a pretty close distance. Magnificent creatures, lovely, colourful birds. Couldn't snap a good pic though, lighting was bad.

Must be exhausting

So, here's a few shots from this year.
Great blue heron:

Greylag geese (?):

And a few more.

Common shelduck:

Egyptian geese:

Canada geese:

And this last fella, I have absolutely no idea:

On the spring offspring theme, young GCG chicks are pretty cool

Been in and around blackwater estuary marshes way. (Essex)
Little egrets
Cormorants
Grebe
Kestrel
Gulls (common and black headed)
Swans
Geese
Ducks
Carp
Heard a cuckoo
Heard a badger
Starlings doing the flocking thing
Jays

No pictures.

Also trout doing that jumping out the water thing

2 robin fledglings in the garden today, no colour yet, just mottled fluff balls

More sounds from the riverside
https://soundcloud.com/user-143636955/cuckoo-may-2021
Cuckoo by the sewage works the other day

https://soundcloud.com/user-143636955/cettis-warbler-at-eythrope-30
and a Cetti's warbler a bit further upstream

What did I hear at 48ish seconds on the cuckoo recording?

Appropriate, considering what little shits cuckoos are.

Good question - I think it may have been the mad song thrush, it has some extraordinary repertoire, a lot of which you only hear if you are within about 10 metres of it.

I’m sure that’s what it is.
There are a couple of similar phrases further on. Amazing.
Lovely recording too. I can picture the scene!

Cheers, glad you listened to it that way. I am usually trying to capture a place and a time rather than individual birds. Something I have discovered recently is that there is a variety of soundscapes around here, each of which is distinct from the others and also very localised. Partly to do with the arrangement of trees, the shape of the hill that slopes down from the road, that sort of thing.

This post made me think of this:

https://thenestcollective.co.uk/includes/singing-with-nightingales/

I haven't been, although I've read some good reviews.

It’ll be next year now. Nightingales have just about finished for the year. Sadly there have been none in my neighbourhood. One night a few years back there were a least 25 singing birds around one gravel pit. Made for many magical nights.
Now there are none and the habitat is perfect. Such a loss.

Odd one earlier, magpie lacking its tail feathers. Could it be a fledgling or have the crows been at it? It did look quite small

I saw a firecrest without its tail feathers.

Looked like a pokemon.

I thought maybe a cat or it hit a car etc.

Unfortunately it didnt last long.

Take flight away and they pretty screwed.