Garden Birds and wild birds thread.

Ever thought of that :). It was silent when I went past it but when I nudged It the combined buzzing noise was surreal. Birds had filled it with moss though, just hope there’s no chicks in there as well. (I assume bees cannot fill the box with moss, off to Google).
 
https://ibb.co/rmDjwW1

This is quite a cheat, because it's hardly in my garden. In fact, it's on the other side of the world (for some). Taken on the hiking trail in Abel Tasman Park, New Zealand South Island. He's a kingfisher, but I couldn't tell you what sort (some twitcher on here will be able to). Plucky little creature, too. He was clearly uncomfortable, but he stood his ground. I used the zoom so as not to get too close.
 
Last edited:
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
https://ibb.co/rmDjwW1

This is quite a cheat, because it's hardly in my garden. In fact, it's on the other side of the world (for some). Taken on the hiking trail in Abel Tasman Park, New Zealand South Island. He's a kingfisher, but I couldn't tell you what sort (some twitcher on here will be able to). Plucky little creature, too. He was clearly uncomfortable, but he stood his ground. I used the zoom so as not to get too close.
Click to expand...
Nice photo mate. Its a Belted Kingfisher I think.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:


This is quite a cheat, because it's hardly in my garden. In fact, it's on the other side of the world (for some). Taken on the hiking trail in Abel Tasman Park, New Zealand South Island. He's a kingfisher, but I couldn't tell you what sort (some twitcher on here will be able to). Plucky little creature, too. He was clearly uncomfortable, but he stood his ground. I used the zoom so as not to get too close.
Click to expand...
That is a great shot, especially considering it's an equivalent 600mm focal length.

Edit: use the BB Code link rather than the Image link.
 
M9 Blue said:
On our feeder we have one of those mesh things that you pop a slice of bread in for the little birds to stick their beaks through and grab a little bit.About an hour ago a crow turned up and spent a couple of minutes inspecting the mesh feeder,it then opened the lid and flew off with the whole slice! Clever bird.
Click to expand...

Yes they are. At my golf club there is a half way house, selling burgers , chicken, sausage sandwiches etc. The Crows wait nearby. When the visiting golfer, gets to the 10th tee many put their sandwich down to tee off. Cue the Crow, it quickly raids the bag or bench, and takes of with its lunch. The golfers go apekshit as the Crow sits looking on from a high perch.
I have seen them opening bag zips,or opening button closers on the side of the
bag.
Members are now very careful and leave nothing unnatended, visitors are unsuspecting. The Crows have been known to take of with a golf ball in its beak.

I do like a crow .
 
asahartford1 said:
Yes they are. At my golf club there is a half way house, selling burgers , chicken, sausage sandwiches etc. The Crows wait nearby. When the visiting golfer, gets to the 10th tee many put their sandwich down to tee off. Cue the Crow, it quickly raids the bag or bench, and takes of with its lunch. The golfers go apekshit as the Crow sits looking on from a high perch.
I have seen them opening bag zips,or opening button closers on the side of the
bag.
Members are now very careful and leave nothing unnatended, visitors are unsuspecting. The Crows have been known to take of with a golf ball in its beak.

I do like a crow .
Click to expand...
Crows are great, like you said very smart. We have a lot of 'Clark's nutcrackers' around here, they're the same way, they'll get into anything, even catch stuff in the air in you throw it, they love chips
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
A couple of years back I saw a pair of magpies dive-bombing a cat. They chased it off their turf, and no messing.

On another note: how do I upload an image with a jpg extension off my desktop to here? I've got a rather fine photo I took that I'd like to share.
Click to expand...
They are mad birds,i have foxes on my garden and they are always pecking at their backs,the foxes just ignore them now,i have a hawk of some type that comes and takes birds ,it spends time on the ground plucking out the feathers so the body is lighter to fly off and the magpies don't leave it alone for a min,they are mental
 
idahoblues said:
Crows are great, like you said very smart. We have a lot of 'Clark's nutcrackers' around here, they're the same way, they'll get into anything, even catch stuff in the air in you throw it, they love chips
Click to expand...

Very sharp birds, very intelligent. I've heard that if you get them young you can make pets of them. Don't know if that's true, though.

By the way, do you mean chips as in British “fish and chips”, or American “potato chips”?
 
karen7 said:
They are mad birds,i have foxes on my garden and they are always pecking at their backs,the foxes just ignore them now,i have a hawk of some type that comes and takes birds ,it spends time on the ground plucking out the feathers so the body is lighter to fly off and the magpies don't leave it alone for a min,they are mental
Click to expand...

Not my favourite birds, magpies, and that's putting it mildly. I can't stand that machine-gun racket they make to each other when something dangerous to them is on the prowl.
Amongst common British birds, I'm very fond of the wren. Isn't it the wren that in Shakespeare's time had a reputation for extreme randiness?
And the blackbird, for its piercingly sweet song that you hear on spring evenings, sometimes.
 
Last edited:
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Very sharp birds, very intelligent. I've heard that if you get them young you can make pets of them. Don't know if that's true, though.

By the way, do you mean chips as in British “fish and chips”, or American “potato chips”?
Click to expand...
I'd done the translation 'french fries' or fush n chups if you happen to be a kiwi
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Not my favourite birds, magpies, and that's putting it mildly. I can't stand that machine-gun racket they make to each other when something dangerous to them is on the prowl.
Amongst common British birds, I'm very fond of the wren. Isn't it the wren that in Shakespeare's time had a reputation for extreme randiness?
And the blackbird, for its piercingly sweet song that you hear on spring evenings, sometimes.
Click to expand...
I can't tell any bird songs apart aside from the magpies din,it is lovely to wake up to the birds singing in the summer,i like the sound of the wren ha
 
karen7 said:
They are mad birds,i have foxes on my garden and they are always pecking at their backs,the foxes just ignore them now,i have a hawk of some type that comes and takes birds ,it spends time on the ground plucking out the feathers so the body is lighter to fly off and the magpies don't leave it alone for a min,they are mental
Click to expand...
Your hawk sounds like a sparrowhawk. Got one that blasts through my garden regularly, very adept at catching blackbirds. Don't see much of magpies till this time of year when they come looking for other birds' nests to steal the eggs. The blackbirds tend to fly into a false nest site in an effort to bamboozle them!
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Not my favourite birds, magpies, and that's putting it mildly. I can't stand that machine-gun racket they make to each other when something dangerous to them is on the prowl.
Amongst common British birds, I'm very fond of the wren. Isn't it the wren that in Shakespeare's time had a reputation for extreme randiness?
And the blackbird, for its piercingly sweet song that you hear on spring evenings, sometimes.
Click to expand...
Think the name 'wren' in old Anglo-Saxon means 'lascivious' a term which used to be given to folk who were small and nimble! Dunno where I saw that, maybe wrong. Also, sure I've read that during nesting time some wrens will open their nest up to other wren pairs to, erm... Well that might be where the randiness comes from!
 
Kakhaber The Great said:
Think the name 'wren' in old Anglo-Saxon means 'lascivious' a term which used to be given to folk who were small and nimble! Dunno where I saw that, maybe wrong. Also, sure I've read that during nesting time some wrens will open their nest up to other wren pairs to, erm... Well that might be where the randiness comes from!
Click to expand...

Now that's very interesting (I love this kind of stuff). It so happens that I've got a couple of friends who are Shakespeare scholars, and I'll consult them about that literary reference to them being exceptionally randy birds. I seem to have a vague memory of it from one of the plays ( something along the lines of “Marry, but thou art a veritable wren, thou strumpet!” )
I had mistakenly thought that the word grive (i.e. une grive) in French translates as “wren”. Checking it, I find I'm mistaken. It translates as “thrush”. What's interesting is that there is the adjective grivois in French, which means sexed up, or otherwise lascivious. So apparently at least those birds have that reputation.
 
I have just spotted and been watching a Magpie. This one was almost all white with a bit of black, underneath and on the tail.

Is this rare, or common among magpies, can't recall seeing one before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top