Garden Birds and wild birds thread.

[idahoblues]

The hummingbirds have finally arrived, it's like WW3 out there plus a couple of Bullocks Orioles. They really like the sugar water and are very partial to half an orange hanging from a piece of wire. But the other morning I walked out and there were two of them eating some left over fried spuds in a cast iron pan

 

[denislawsbackheel]

It really is unacceptable, especially when they're chasing off one of these

What a stunning bird!

 

[idahoblues]

What a stunning bird!

They are beautiful, funny to watch too. I got about 5 minutes of video this spring of their courtship routine. The male will sit on a metal chimney cap and play it like a drum, then lots of balerina style head bobbing and flyovers...noisy fuckers mind you

 

[kaz7]

Excitement in the night garden

I have a big old shed right up by my kitchen window that I open to feed the badgers ,it is covered in a berry bush,that is bright red in the winter,it is gorgeous,anyway I can just about see bits of the shed,i wrenched the door open last summer so they can go in

Some of the shy ones will poke their heads out for food then go back under it

So tonite the males arrived on their own,ate then went off

I just went to check if the others had been and I heard a soft non stop chuntering noise coming from the shed,this went on for about twenty minutes,then lots of movement and then the squeaky noise I heard the other night,mum came out and took some food back,then she picked up a carrier bag and took that back in,it was played with for,a few minutes,i could just see one or two little bodies in there,then mum was patting it down on top of something,it white so I could see that and it was moving about,then mum came out and said hello to me

Now I know where the babies are,i will have another look later

My memory is so bad that I experience this seeing the babies like new every year

It is brilliant

 

[kaz7]

Just had a look,two babies having a nose about,both rubbing their bums on mums bum,that is how they won't get lost because they are scent marked

They both have tails that look like white feathers on the end,sooooo cute


Not mine,mine are younger and smaller at the minute how to annoy mum lo!

 

[kaz7]

Interesting dynamic in the garden now there are babies about

The big males eat earlier and then the mum,couple of other females and the two cubs are sticking very close to the shed so they can bolt underneath if spooked, i have discovered they have also burrowed through a hole next to the shed underneath next doors decking,he doesn't mind

The female badgers are quite dominant and can protect the babies between them

Mums also have a helper ,it is the same one as last time there were babies,the mum stays with the babies whilst the helper picks up food and takes it to them,it doesn't eat until everyone has enough

Tried to get some footage of the babies but just caught sight of the back end sticking out from under the shed,mum was talking quietly to them again

Whilst they were busy up this end the mummy fox did four raids on the food that the males didn't finish,she has her own babies to feed,i have seen two of her cubs as well as later on towards dawn she is up by the shed then

I have to talk more softly to the badgers at the moment ,think they trust me ,they came out when I call them,that is very cute

I think I will have to be patient getting good footage of all the babies ,it is going to get busy out there lol

 

[George Hannah]

Interesting dynamic in the garden now there are babies about

The big males eat earlier and then the mum,couple of other females and the two cubs are sticking very close to the shed so they can bolt underneath if spooked, i have discovered they have also burrowed through a hole next to the shed underneath next doors decking,he doesn't mind

The female badgers are quite dominant and can protect the babies between them

Mums also have a helper ,it is the same one as last time there were babies,the mum stays with the babies whilst the helper picks up food and takes it to them,it doesn't eat until everyone has enough

Tried to get some footage of the babies but just caught sight of the back end sticking out from under the shed,mum was talking quietly to them again

Whilst they were busy up this end the mummy fox did four raids on the food that the males didn't finish,she has her own babies to feed,i have seen two of her cubs as well as later on towards dawn she is up by the shed then

I have to talk more softly to the badgers at the moment ,think they trust me ,they came out when I call them,that is very cute

I think I will have to be patient getting good footage of all the babies ,it is going to get busy out there lol

Don't get too close and catch tubercolosis :)

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Was working in my home office yesterday which overlooks the car park of the development I live on and noticed a couple of small birds perched on the street light outside my house. They looked unlike anything I'd seen previously and usually you see anything interesting at the back, which is wooded. Got a closer look and they were coal tits. Never seen these before. They were fascinating.

 

[idahoblues]

Was working in my home office yesterday which overlooks the car park of the development I live on and noticed a couple of small birds perched on the street light outside my house. They looked unlike anything I'd seen previously and usually you see anything interesting at the back, which is wooded. Got a closer look and they were coal tits. Never seen these before. They were fascinating.

Strange you've never seen them

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Strange you've never seen them

It's very odd. All we normally get is magpies strutting around in the car park but I've never seen them in the back either.