The Bird Watching Thread

[anonymous-user]

I have to admit I haven't a clue on binoculars really, just the magnification.

[isaldiri]

The Spruce Goose said:

I have to admit I haven't a clue on binoculars really, just the magnification.

then try to look for a something like a 8x32. 8x is the easier magnification for someone new to optics to hold steady and the x32 is a smaller package while offering easier eye placement than one of the pocket binoculars.

[Mariosbt]

Song Thrushes seem to be very sparse in Northern regions, when I was a child they were as common as the blackbird in the garden ... but no more sadly!
How about in other areas?

[carinaman]

Anyone any good with bird calls?

The garden has Blackbirds, Wrens and Dunnocks. We get passing visitors such as Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits.

There's a bird that makes a single note sigh like whistle. I've noticed the same call at the end of the road when walking along a footpath that has scrubby bushes on one side and gardens on the other, in that instance it seemed to coincide with me walking there almost like a single note, whistling alarm call or sigh.

[Boosted LS1]

^ Starlings do similar.

[carinaman]

Thanks Boosted. Starlings hadn't crossed my mind. I associate Starlings with flocks, where as this noise seems to come from a hedge in the garden. I think I know the Starling call you're referring to but it's less shrill, high pitched and more like an exhalation whistle but not as high pitched as what I think of as a Starling call.

There are Starlings in the locale and I tried counting a flock of them on some overhead power cabling half way along the road. I think there was 30-40 of them.

Edited by carinaman on Sunday 10th April 08:44

[Speak no evil]

Sat eating lunch and this beauty landed on the fence, not the best photo as taken through glass.

[CopperBolt]

carinaman said:

Thanks Boosted. Starlings hadn't crossed my mind. I associate Starlings with flocks, where as this noise seems to come from a hedge in the garden. I think I know the Starling call you're referring to but it's less shrill, high pitched and more like an exhalation whistle but not as high pitched as what I think of as a Starling call.

There are Starlings in the locale and I tried counting a flock of them on some overhead power cabling half way along the road. I think there was 30-40 of them.

Edited by carinaman on Sunday 10th April 08:44

Could be a chaffinch.

[Evoluzione]

CopperBolt said:

carinaman said:

Thanks Boosted. Starlings hadn't crossed my mind. I associate Starlings with flocks, where as this noise seems to come from a hedge in the garden. I think I know the Starling call you're referring to but it's less shrill, high pitched and more like an exhalation whistle but not as high pitched as what I think of as a Starling call.

There are Starlings in the locale and I tried counting a flock of them on some overhead power cabling half way along the road. I think there was 30-40 of them.

Edited by carinaman on Sunday 10th April 08:44

Could be a chaffinch.

Yes we have one that does that, it's like someone whistling at you to get your attention. I IDd it with a clip on YT.

[Mariosbt]

I was working near Ulverston and there was a Starling that imitated an Oyster Catchers sound! Very well, I might add. Anyone else heard a Starilng imitating another bird song?

[Boosted LS1]

Have seen my first House Martin today, Long Eaton, Midlands. It didn't stop, lol.

[Ronstein]

We've had three different pheasants appear in the garden over the last couple of weeks.This one was wandering in the lane on Sunday so we shepherded him into the bacl garden where he spend the rest of the day munching away. The other two flew off as soon as we went outside, but this one was happy to let you within a few feet before he wandered off.

[Byker28i]

We have great tits in our bird box for the first time ever! It was made by my daughters previous boyfriend, been on the wall for years, but the last couple of years the honeysuckle grew over it. I cut it back last year and now seen the birds flying in and out.

Thats robins at the back, sparrows in the roof, pigeons in the connifers and now blackbirds in the rose bush at the front.

Good excuse not to do gardening....

[Byker28i]

carinaman said:

Anyone any good with bird calls?

The garden has Blackbirds, Wrens and Dunnocks. We get passing visitors such as Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits.

There's a bird that makes a single note sigh like whistle. I've noticed the same call at the end of the road when walking along a footpath that has scrubby bushes on one side and gardens on the other, in that instance it seemed to coincide with me walking there almost like a single note, whistling alarm call or sigh.

rspb have calls
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-so...

[Old Merc]

We have a pair of Jays busy making a nest in a small tree in front of our house. ( We are just off the A4 near Sonning on Thames )

I can count on one hand the times I`ve ever seen a Jay. I`m hoping for a shot at a few chicks being fed on our wall.

[Evoluzione]

Old Merc said:

We have a pair of Jays busy making a nest in a small tree in front of our house. ( We are just off the A4 near Sonning on Thames )

I can count on one hand the times I`ve ever seen a Jay. I`m hoping for a shot at a few chicks being fed on our wall.

They tend to be very loud and angry sounding birds.
A bit like Leanne Battersby.

[Zumbruk]

A few from my garden. All taken from my armchair with a Nikon D30 & 1000mm lens apart from the last one, which was a Pixel 4.

[Boosted LS1]

^ Wow, your front garden has some cracking views. Where is it, I'd like to steal it if I may ? ;-)

[Zumbruk]

Boosted LS1 said:

^ Wow, your front garden has some cracking views. Where is it, I'd like to steal it if I may ? ;-)

We like it, and certainly not!

These were just a few that came conveniently to hand. I'll dig out some more in the next few days. IIRC, we've counted 41 species of bird in the garden (not all at once!) We have 3 acres, with 2 ponds, and a few hundred square yards of woodland and we're entirely surrounded by farmland, so we get lots of different species. I don't have photos of it all, though!

Oh, g'wan, here's another;

Edited by Zumbruk on Wednesday 27th April 22:20

[Evoluzione]

I heard and saw a Cuckoo today, strange how it only calls at this time of the year. It was flying from one group of trees to another over a fair old area, I wonder if it's looking for somewhere to lay it's eggs....