Garden Birds and wild birds thread.

Had either a Peregrine or a Sparrowhawk eat a Pidgeon in our back garden
Not sure which as im not a twitcher
 
Parakeets in numbers here in Poynton. Bright green they are, I don't mind them bu they freak out Mrs P
 
cpa said:
Had either a Peregrine or a Sparrowhawk eat a Pidgeon in our back garden
Not sure which as im not a twitcher
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The Peregrine has a black eye Sparrow Hawk orange eye.seen a few Sparrow Hawk attacks in the garden back in Failsworth and now up her in Pickering. However if you're back garden is the size of Castle Howard it may be that pesky Falcon ;-)
 
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cpa said:
Had either a Peregrine or a Sparrowhawk eat a Pidgeon in our back garden
Not sure which as im not a twitcher
Click to expand...
We have at least one pair of sparrowhawks around regularly and they particularly like taking collared doves. They're more common than peregrines but are also a bit smaller. With both species the female is bigger but the female sparrowhawk is brown while the male is blue. Both male and female peregrines are blue. Peregrines tend to swoop down from high while sparrowhawks (at least in our experience) don't attack from above tree height. Their favourite mode of attack is to hedgehop just above the bushes or fence and swoop in on birds on the feeders or in a bush or tree.
 
plongo said:
Parakeets in numbers here in Poynton. Bright green they are, I don't mind them bu they freak out Mrs P
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I always see parakeets when i go to south manchester now, completely habituated and in numbers, like you say.

Saw my first pair of parakeets up here in Morecambe over the summer, repeatedly for about 4 months, but not since it went cold....remains to be seen whether this is too far north. They strike me as very opportunistic and hardy birds though.
 
laserblue said:
We have at least one pair of sparrowhawks around regularly and they particularly like taking collared doves. They're more common than peregrines but are also a bit smaller. With both species the female is bigger but the female sparrowhawk is brown while the male is blue. Both male and female peregrines are blue. Peregrines tend to swoop down from high while sparrowhawks (at least in our experience) don't attack from above tree height. Their favourite mode of attack is to hedgehop just above the bushes or fence and swoop in on birds on the feeders or in a bush or tree.
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I'm amazed how loud it is when they actually hit the songbird. You would think they would damage themselves.

I am starting to see almost as many kites as buzzards here in the Shire.
 
snorky said:
Are you sure it wasn't a cormorant mate?
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Pretty sure, I've got a wildlife book and had a good look at the bird through binoculars. I also read that a Shag inland is likely to be solitary while Cormorants tend to be in a group if they come inland. It was also doing the wings outstretched thing to dry them, while perched on the small wooden fence that surrounds the pond.
 
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big gaz said:
The Peregrine has a black eye Sparrow Hawk orange eye.seen a few Sparrow Hawk attacks in the garden back in Failsworth and now up her in Pickering. However if you're back garden is the size of Castle Howard it may be that pesky Falcon ;-)
Click to expand...
Looking at the vid Its def a Sparrow hawk
 
snorky said:
I'm amazed how loud it is when they actually hit the songbird. You would think they would damage themselves.

I am starting to see almost as many kites as buzzards here in the Shire.
Click to expand...
If you have been to our many cup finals at Wembley, and and do the pre match at Wealdstone fc, you will probably see red kites, been twice and both occasions seen red kites very close, beautiful birds.
 
Came down early one Sunday morning to see a Sparrow hawk stood on my shed looking into the rhododendrons, all the birds in the area were hiding, too scared to take flight, it was quite a sight.
 
J.G.Blue. said:
Another photo I took a couple of years ago, Long Tailed Tit.
View attachment 98844
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Nice photo. They're gorgeous little birds and very social. We get clusters of them in regularly and currently have 6 of them around. They're very dependent on food being put out at this time of year and particularly like fat balls and fat trays but will also nibble on peanuts and eat seed off the bird table. They have a very high attrition rate in winter and up to 80% die off. A few years ago we had a record 13 during the summer but only two were left by the following spring.
 
laserblue said:
Nice photo. They're gorgeous little birds and very social. We get clusters of them in regularly and currently have 6 of them around. They're very dependent on food being put out at this time of year and particularly like fat balls and fat trays but will also nibble on peanuts and eat seed off the bird table. They have a very high attrition rate in winter and up to 80% die off. A few years ago we had a record 13 during the summer but only two were left by the following spring.
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Just yesterday we had about half a dozen in and around the back garden. First time I've seen them since moving 5 years back, they were (relatively) common at our old place. Perhaps a sign that their numbers are up (I'm a glass half full guy).
 
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