The Bird Watching Thread

[Evanivitch]

Mariosbt said:

Magpies will lay 5 eggs, a 5 chicks survive.. collared dove 2 eggs magpies take both. You do the maths dogooder.

A grey squirrel will take them, and a female SparrowHawk will take the adults. It's all a balance.

[Mariosbt]

Evanivitch said:

Mariosbt said:

Magpies will lay 5 eggs, a 5 chicks survive.. collared dove 2 eggs magpies take both. You do the maths dogooder.

A grey squirrel will take them, and a female SparrowHawk will take the adults. It's all a balance.[/quote

Edited by Mariosbt on Thursday 14th May 21:00

[Mort7]

As the OP of this thread my intent was made clear in my original post. It would be really nice if you would take your veiled threats to slaughter wildlife in your garden somewhere else.

[Mariosbt]

Evanivitch said:

A grey squirrel will take them, and a female SparrowHawk will take the adults. It's all a balance.

I’ve never heard of a female sparrow hawk taking an adult magpie to be honest.

[Mariosbt]

Mort7 said:

As the OP of this thread my intent was made clear in my original post. It would be really nice if you would take your veiled threats to slaughter wildlife in your garden somewhere else.

On the contrary Mort, I absolutely encourage & promote wildlife in my garden. You don’t seem to be laughing now.

[Evanivitch]

Mariosbt said:

I’ve never heard of a female sparrow hawk taking an adult magpie to be honest.

It's not exactly hard to find several videos showing it does happen.

[Mariosbt]

Evanivitch said:

Mariosbt said:

I’ve never heard of a female sparrow hawk taking an adult magpie to be honest.

It's not exactly hard to find several videos showing it does happen.

Excellent. I will look when I get a mo. Back to work tomorrow. Hopefully I will post pics. Of the chicks in our bird boxes, providing I can get the iPhone in when both parents are absent. Stay safe

[Mort7]

Mariosbt said:

Mort7 said:

As the OP of this thread my intent was made clear in my original post. It would be really nice if you would take your veiled threats to slaughter wildlife in your garden somewhere else.

On the contrary Mort, I absolutely encourage & promote wildlife in my garden. You don’t seem to be laughing now.

Still chortling away. Incidentally, I hope you've taken the necessary precautions to protect your nest boxes against great spotted woodpeckers - which are much more likely to attack chicks in nest boxes than magpies. https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-an...

If you haven't then it's too late now as a) it's illegal to disturb the nest, and b) you’d probably cause the nesting birds to desert the nest.

You could always start shooting woodpeckers too, of course........

[Mariosbt]

Mort7 said:

Mariosbt said:

Mort7 said:

As the OP of this thread my intent was made clear in my original post. It would be really nice if you would take your veiled threats to slaughter wildlife in your garden somewhere else.

On the contrary Mort, I absolutely encourage & promote wildlife in my garden. You don’t seem to be laughing now.

Still chortling away. Incidentally, I hope you've taken the necessary precautions to protect your nest boxes against great spotted woodpeckers - which are much more likely to attack chicks in nest boxes than magpies. https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-an...

If you haven't then it's too late now as a) it's illegal to disturb the nest, and b) you’d probably cause the nesting birds to desert the nest.

You could always start shooting woodpeckers too, of course........

Good Lord Morty Lad, you’re like a dog with a bone.. you just don’t give up. I don’t live near Oxfordshire so we’re a bit limited to what we see. Don’t get woodpeckers in the garden but I do see them when I’m working in rural areas. One of my favourite birds is the Green Woodpecker. I do a few slate paintings now and again maybe on a rainy day. I will try to upload a couple since you’re a bird man.



[url]

Edited by Mariosbt on Thursday 14th May 21:01

[Mariosbt]

P.S. no hard feelings. You like ‘em.. I don’t.

[Who me ?]

We have both hedge and house sparrows around . Blackbirds in the trees at end of garden and now we're seeing tits of various colours. I have a bird table and bath in the garden, both marred by Pigeons which chase the smaller birds away and eat the food,so some modification to the bird table is needed. Little I can do about the state Pigeons leave the bird bath in.
In the park, we've got Swans ( who seem to have moved on), Ducks with young of all ages and moorhens. There's also a sprinkling of the rare minnie skirted bird, a regular sight in my teenage years.

[Mariosbt]

[quote=Who me ?]We have both hedge and house sparrows around . Blackbirds in the trees at end of garden and now we're seeing tits of various colours. I have a bird table and bath in the garden, both marred by Pigeons which chase the smaller birds away and eat the food,so some modification to the bird table is needed. Little I can do about the state Pigeons leave the bird bath in.
In the park, we've got Swans ( who seem to have moved on), Ducks with young of all ages and moorhens. There's also a sprinkling of the rare minnie skirted bird, a regular sight in my teenage years.
[/quote]


Wood pigeons? And ‘yes You!’

[Mort7]

Mariosbt said:

Good Lord Morty Lad, your like a dog with a bone.. you just don’t give up.

I hope your tits survive. I just don't feel that killing other wildlife is the best way to achieve that. Where do you draw the line? We have a male sparrowhawk which regularly takes birds from our feeding station or when they're feeding on the ground nearby. I've even seen it shaking a bush that they're hiding in to try to flush them out. I don't much like it, but I wouldn't think of harming the sparrowhawk or stopping feeding the other birds so they wouldn't be sitting ducks (not that they are ducks). It's just nature doing what nature does. You can't change that.

Of course the very worst offenders are humans.......

Edit. Thinking about it is wasn't me who saw that, it was Mrs M.

Edit2. Nice slate paintings btw.

Edited by Mort7 on Monday 4th May 09:38

[anonymous-user]

Well due to lockdown erc really enjoyed watching birds, i have a few regulars, a black bird, robin red breast , and a magpie. Was thinking about taking it up as a hobby any suggestions for binoculars?

[Evanivitch]

The Spruce Goose said:

Well due to lockdown erc really enjoyed watching birds, i have a few regulars, a black bird, robin red breast , and a magpie. Was thinking about taking it up as a hobby any suggestions for binoculars?

I picked up a set of these, decent VfM in my opinion and portable enough.

https://carmarthencameras.com/opticron-adventurer-...

[Venisonpie]

Working from home more often I decided to try a bird feeder in my modest urban yard. Had a few Robins, a bloody mouse and then yesterday these two. Chuffed.

[anonymous-user]

There is blackbird and same time it comes into the garden to collect for a nest. it is funny really it must wait until dusk, when it feels safer.
i saw a red kite last year but not seen since. Big fact pigeon but he only comes and goes. i would get a bird feeder but unfoturkly have a cat.

There is actually a bird watching place near me i might go down, it is interesting identifying them.

[Japveesix]

The Spruce Goose said:

Well due to lockdown erc really enjoyed watching birds, i have a few regulars, a black bird, robin red breast , and a magpie. Was thinking about taking it up as a hobby any suggestions for binoculars?

My partner got a pair of these Hawke 10x32 recently as she got bored of waiting for me to let her look through my pair I've had for 15 years.

They're very good, great value for money in my opinion. She worked in a camera shop for years selling binos as well so researched quite a bit before purchasing.

Mine are a more expensive (though much older) pair of Pentax and they match up to them very well.

https://www.wexphotovideo.com/hawke-nature-trek-10...

[Boosted LS1]

The Spruce Goose said:

Well due to lockdown erc really enjoyed watching birds, i have a few regulars, a black bird, robin red breast , and a magpie. Was thinking about taking it up as a hobby any suggestions for binoculars?

Hawke 8 x 42 are excellent and very well priced considering the features offered.


https://www.birders-store.co.uk/hawke-nature-trek-...

They come in different price levels but the basic ones are good, the others better :-)

[isaldiri]

If spectacles are not required a second hand pair of porro binoculars in good condition can offer remarkably good value and probably better optical performance to many roof prism binoculars of the same price. Just something to consider.