Garden Birds and wild birds thread.

Barcon said:
Cardinals are great looking birds. Not as nice as Blue jays though, obviously.
A pair have been hanging around our cedars for the past few weeks.
They had chicks in the lilac bushes a couple of years ago.
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Blue Jay's are beautiful looking birds but they're annoyingly loud and tend to bully the smaller birds.

Barcon said:
Three pileated woodpeckers scrapping in a tree on Sunday.
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Lots of woodpeckers (red-headed & red-bellied) here but the pileated are a little elusive. Got a video of a pileated recently in Florida. Too large to upload and I'm too dumb to figure it out.
 
Greeted by a wonderful sight this morning. Looked out my kitchen window and saw two giant molehills in my lawn. Wait……not molehills but two hedgehogs mating. Female hunkered down, much bigger male scuttled round her, prodding at her body. Kept this up for a while, then she succumbed to his advances. Hedgehog numbers under pressure, so this is most welcome.
 
KS55 said:
Greeted by a wonderful sight this morning. Looked out my kitchen window and saw two giant molehills in my lawn. Wait……not molehills but two hedgehogs mating. Female hunkered down, much bigger male scuttled round her, prodding at her body. Kept this up for a while, then she succumbed to his advances. Hedgehog numbers under pressure, so this is most welcome.
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I suppose she has to be carefull she doesnt get a small prick while they are at it?
 
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Zabba climbed up to the window and got hand fed , difficult now he is an adult brute but he really wanted to be first to get fed , he loves his food , always has done and everyone elses , i feel we are bonded and have been since he was born , some gentle chuntering going on under the shed which means babies , bit soon to see them yet
 
kaz7 said:
Zabba climbed up to the window and got hand fed , difficult now he is an adult brute but he really wanted to be first to get fed , he loves his food , always has done and everyone elses , i feel we are bonded and have been since he was born , some gentle chuntering going on under the shed which means babies , bit soon to see them yet
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Is that one of the foxes? That's cool...do you live in the countryside? My mum has moved out of MCR down to Knighton in Wales...I love going to visit now. I see her more now she's living in the countryside than i did when she lived 2 miles down the road! haha. Badgers, deer, bats, rabbits, red kites, buzzards and some other eagle kind of birds. The locals are a bit weird though..haha...Wicker Man territory to my city eyes.
I collected some frog or toad spawn from some local Salford ponds about 2 years ago and made a little pond in my back garden...we have 2 adult toads there now. They're mating, I think. Weird noises. I won't film them, as that would be like toads-porn, wouldnt it?
 
Marklr said:
Is that one of the foxes? That's cool...do you live in the countryside? My mum has moved out of MCR down to Knighton in Wales...I love going to visit now. I see her more now she's living in the countryside than i did when she lived 2 miles down the road! haha. Badgers, deer, bats, rabbits, red kites, buzzards and some other eagle kind of birds. The locals are a bit weird though..haha...Wicker Man territory to my city eyes.
I collected some frog or toad spawn from some local Salford ponds about 2 years ago and made a little pond in my back garden...we have 2 adult toads there now. They're mating, I think. Weird noises. I won't film them, as that would be like toads-porn, wouldnt it?
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Zabba is a badger , saw him early on when he was tiny but he hassled the adults for food and ran around like a looney , he has had a rough couple of years , he has been beaten up by the others and had terrible wounds on his rump but he stayed and comes when i call him , he has his own family but still likes to climb up to the window even though it is difficult now

So far there is half a dozen that come together and so far no fighting , the attacking of zabba was not normal as they are usually a tolerant group

The foxes come every night but dont come to the window , they hang back as the badgers are the bosses of the garden , last years cubs are tamer as they know nothing different than me talking and throwing out food from the open window but dont come close , they are quite skitish which is good

I am on the edge of town with woods out back where there is a couple of sets as well as at the top of my garden underneath next doors decking after dismantling my fencing !, I just handed over my massive garden twenty years ago , it is too much garden for me
 
Have about a dozen pairs of Canada geese left around the lake opposite, the rest went north. Got 11 babies so far. They're so cute when little but they grow like weeds. Took this pic Tuesday, they're almost twice as big today.20220504_171134.jpg
 
Marklr said:
Is that one of the foxes? That's cool...do you live in the countryside? My mum has moved out of MCR down to Knighton in Wales...I love going to visit now. I see her more now she's living in the countryside than i did when she lived 2 miles down the road! haha. Badgers, deer, bats, rabbits, red kites, buzzards and some other eagle kind of birds. The locals are a bit weird though..haha...Wicker Man territory to my city eyes.
I collected some frog or toad spawn from some local Salford ponds about 2 years ago and made a little pond in my back garden...we have 2 adult toads there now. They're mating, I think. Weird noises. I won't film them, as that would be like toads-porn, wouldnt it?
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Nah, toads love a camera when they're at it. We have newt porn in our pond from about feb until may/june....randy little buggers. We started with about half a dozen 5 years ago, 3 from another pond and 3 from the garden wall found when the guys were doing our drive and now we've got at least 2 dozen and counting, the downside is the dragon fly larvae eat the small ones so keeping the number down but if I see one I catch it and feed it to the birds. We do get a few dragon flies and damsel flies on the pond in the summer though. No frogs though as I'm told they dont get on with newts and keep to separate ponds or ditches. Mother nature is a wonderful thing.
 
Tuearts right boot said:
Nah, toads love a camera when they're at it. We have newt porn in our pond from about feb until may/june....randy little buggers. We started with about half a dozen 5 years ago, 3 from another pond and 3 from the garden wall found when the guys were doing our drive and now we've got at least 2 dozen and counting, the downside is the dragon fly larvae eat the small ones so keeping the number down but if I see one I catch it and feed it to the birds. We do get a few dragon flies and damsel flies on the pond in the summer though. No frogs though as I'm told they dont get on with newts and keep to separate ponds or ditches. Mother nature is a wonderful thing.
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They're noisy, dirty buggers when they're at it, too. Fascinates the cats. So much so, they ate them.
ha..kidding...the cats can't get to them. Do they eat toads?
These were on Kersal Wetlands near me..it's the old Manchester Racecourse.
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Marklr said:
They're noisy, dirty buggers when they're at it, too. Fascinates the cats. So much so, they ate them.
ha..kidding...the cats can't get to them. Do they eat toads?
These were on Kersal Wetlands near me..it's the old Manchester Racecourse.
View attachment 42263
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One of our dogs tried to eat a squashed one on the road and his mouth frothed up. They have poison in some glands on the side of their head. Soon goes and they dont do it again.....Great little creatures
 
We have a pair of blackbirds nesting in the garden. The male is just coming into full voice. May evenings are peak blackbird song time hereabouts. Last evening he included an imitation of a great tit in his song. Blackbirds are great mimics. Remember the trimphone? They used to copy its distinctive warble years ago.
Hope my nest is secure, we have too many magpies here. They destroyed a tits nest last year.
Listen out for the blackbird’s song, it fills my kitchen now (he is on a low roof nearby) and is a beautiful accompaniment to cooking.
 
Banshee said:
Have about a dozen pairs of Canada geese left around the lake opposite, the rest went north. Got 11 babies so far. They're so cute when little but they grow like weeds. Took this pic Tuesday, they're almost twice as big today.View attachment 42258
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Those pesky beasts get everywhere! On a good year you have to shoo them out of the way walking on our local canal towpath. People feed them which makes matters worse.
 
KS55 said:
Those pesky beasts get everywhere! On a good year you have to shoo them out of the way walking on our local canal towpath. People feed them which makes matters worse.
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We have 5 - 6 pairs fly over our house every morning between 6 and 7 flying down to the estuary....noisy bastards, fortunately I'm up walking the dogs.
 
KS55 said:
We have a pair of blackbirds nesting in the garden. The male is just coming into full voice. May evenings are peak blackbird song time hereabouts. Last evening he included an imitation of a great tit in his song. Blackbirds are great mimics. Remember the trimphone? They used to copy its distinctive warble years ago.
Hope my nest is secure, we have too many magpies here. They destroyed a tits nest last year.
Listen out for the blackbird’s song, it fills my kitchen now (he is on a low roof nearby) and is a beautiful accompaniment to cooking.
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Blackbirds have a nest at the back.Yesterday Mr Blackbird seen off 2 Magpies who were sniffing around.
 
Family of dunnocks live in my conifers behind a Virginia creeper, blackbirds too, thrush, some very cheeky, friendly robins have been about this spring, a pair of wood pigeons and a small grey bird with white and black markings on the face which looks common but I can never identify as a novice. None of the garden birds are that keen on 'bought food', only the squirrels seem to like it, but the nesting wool I put out for the birds was a big hit with the mums this year. It's like a busy nightclub where if you get the ladies in the blokes will follow!
 
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