spuggies and jackdaws and hedgehogs and frogs

[JonM]

45 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Any more examples of avian name onomatopoeia?

See & hear lapwings most days here, and my wife always reckons they sound like 1980s computer games.

Random bird name related fact - subbeteo, the table football game, is named for the latin name for the Hobby bird-of-prey.

[JonM]

Curlews and oystercatchers hanging out by one of the smaller waterfalls at lunchtime. Also a couple of pheasants sat on one of my drystone walls, mouse building a nest inside the wall, and various small birds darting about with bits of moss and so on. Lots of lambs starting to appear, although the first of those were in January. Spring is here.

[Red Willow]

We have put a camera in the bird box this year. It is really interesting watching the bluetit coming and going. Every night it returns to the box to sleep, there isn't a nest it just fluffs up and goes to sleep.

We have a lot of knocking on the bottom of the box. I assume this is to attract the mate. It brings in bits of nesting material then seems to throw a hissy fit and throws it all out again.

We have seen 2 birds in the box at the same time but only one sleeps over night, arriving shortly before sunset.

Edited March 6 by Red Willow

[Red Willow]

4 hours ago, Kayakman said:

Towhees, which sound just like their name when they sing...I don't know if you have them over there.

I'm not sure if you have the grey catbird over there but it does, indeed, sound exactly like a meowing cat....fun to listen to.

Are towees the really friendly ones that will feed from your hand? We had loads of them descending when at a rest stop in the Rockies

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

5 hours ago, JonM said:

Curlews and oystercatchers hanging out by one of the smaller waterfalls at lunchtime. Also a couple of pheasants sat on one of my drystone walls, mouse building a nest inside the wall, and various small birds darting about with bits of moss and so on. Lots of lambs starting to appear, although the first of those were in January. Spring is here.

Great post, JonM, which makes me unbelievably jealous!

Since my job-enforced move south almost thirty years ago, the single sound which I miss the most from the Dales is of the wonderful burbling call of curlews in spring.

[Kayakman]

13 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Interesting post, Kayakman, for which thanks.

No, we don't have either over here.  Looking at pictures of towhees, they look like the type of bird we would call a bunting, with specific species including the corn bunting, snow bunting and very rare cirl bunting.

We do, however, have one bird that can sound like a distant cat and that is one of our larger birds of prey, the buzzard.  As they circle overhead, they often call to each other.  Indeed, birdwatchers tend to describe their call as 'mewing'.

We also have the snow bunting.  The catbird sounds like a cat in heat (if you know the sound), but it sounds nothing like a buzzard.  I like nothing better after a long day of kayaking than laying back at a campsite and listening to the whiskey jacks and other birds of the boreal forest and then I let the loons drift me off into sleep.

My favourite is when a golden eagle goes over the kayak and gives a screech above me...i like that.

[Kayakman]

9 hours ago, Red Willow said:

Are towees the really friendly ones that will feed from your hand? We had loads of them descending when at a rest stop in the Rockies

They can feed from the hand, they like pieces of suet but the best are the whiskey jacks who are nothing but common camp thieves, very brazen.

[Red Willow]

7 hours ago, Kayakman said:

They can feed from the hand, they like pieces of suet but the best are the whiskey jacks who are nothing but common camp thieves, very brazen.

Do you have something like Cowheads? 

[Kayakman]

On 07/03/2024 at 03:00, Red Willow said:

Do you have something like Cowheads? 

Yes we have many cowbirds....they steal the eggs of robins (you call them wrens over there) and put their own eggs in the nest...many like to hang out around cattle since they eat bugs from the dung.

I saw my first spring robin yesterday!  Spring is nigh!  It is very early to see a robin and we have 10 cm of snow coming tomorrow.

[Red Willow]

38 minutes ago, Kayakman said:

Yes we have many cowbirds....they steal the eggs of robins (you call them wrens over there) and put their own eggs in the nest...many like to hang out around cattle since they eat bugs from the dung.

I saw my first spring robin yesterday!  Spring is nigh!  It is very early to see a robin and we have 10 cm of snow coming tomorrow.

We have Robins and Wrens. Wrens have short tails. Your robins are the size of blackbirds to us. Robins appear on christmas cards.

 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

Sad, but ultimately inevitable, news from Winchester.  Winnie, the female star of the cathedral's peregrine webcams, has been found dead.  Her first mate, called Chester (of course!), predeceased her about two years ago and she had mated with a younger male.  A younger female had been noted early this year and was aggressive towards Winnie, who has clearly come out second best.  It is assumed and hoped that this younger female will now mate with the male; he was given the name William when he arrived on the scene, so what price she is called Kate!

Winnie was thought to be about 15, which I understand is a good age for a peregrine falcon.  She had successfully helped to rear 27 chicks.  Peregrines usually lay three eggs, sometimes four and very rarely five.  If more than three are laid, the last chick to hatch will often starve, as it is pushed out by its bigger, slightly older siblings.  However, the other year, Winnie and her partner amazingly successfully got all five of that year's chicks to the fledging stage - a fantastic achievement.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623

This is something I had no idea about! Absolutely fascinating! 

There are 500,000 Giant Redwoods in the UK which is more than 6x the number in California. The ones in the UK aren't at the height of the ones in California yet, with the largest around 54 metres, and the largest in Cali around 90 metres, but that is because the UK ones are only 160 years old. According to this article they are absolutely thriving in this country. As I said, I didn't even realise we had any here! 

[DavidM]

2 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623

This is something I had no idea about! Absolutely fascinating! 

There are 500,000 Giant Redwoods in the UK which is more than 6x the number in California. The ones in the UK aren't at the height of the ones in California yet, with the largest around 54 metres, and the largest in Cali around 90 metres, but that is because the UK ones are only 160 years old. According to this article they are absolutely thriving in this country. As I said, I didn't even realise we had any here! 

Brilliant . I love trees , the more the better 

[Futtocks]

3 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623

This is something I had no idea about! Absolutely fascinating! 

There are 500,000 Giant Redwoods in the UK which is more than 6x the number in California. The ones in the UK aren't at the height of the ones in California yet, with the largest around 54 metres, and the largest in Cali around 90 metres, but that is because the UK ones are only 160 years old. According to this article they are absolutely thriving in this country. As I said, I didn't even realise we had any here! 

There was something about this on Radio 4 this morning. I was surprised too.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

On 08/03/2024 at 13:53, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Sad, but ultimately inevitable, news from Winchester.  Winnie, the female star of the cathedral's peregrine webcams, has been found dead.  Her first mate, called Chester (of course!), predeceased her about two years ago and she had mated with a younger male.  A younger female had been noted early this year and was aggressive towards Winnie, who has clearly come out second best.  It is assumed and hoped that this younger female will now mate with the male; he was given the name William when he arrived on the scene, so what price she is called Kate!

Winnie was thought to be about 15, which I understand is a good age for a peregrine falcon.  She had successfully helped to rear 27 chicks.  Peregrines usually lay three eggs, sometimes four and very rarely five.  If more than three are laid, the last chick to hatch will often starve, as it is pushed out by its bigger, slightly older siblings.  However, the other year, Winnie and her partner amazingly successfully got all five of that year's chicks to the fledging stage - a fantastic achievement.

My flippant suggestion that, with a resident male called William, the new female would be called Kate, has, I am pleased to report, proven unfounded.  She is to be called Mel.  Here is the explanation from the cathedral's website:

"Mel is named after Melesina Trench (1768 –1827), Irish writer, diarist, poet and social campaigner who’s Latin epitaph is still visible opposite the North Transept today"

So now you know!

 

[Futtocks]

15 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

who’s

Dearie me.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

1 hour ago, Futtocks said:

Dearie me.

Agreed!

[Padge]

Are magpies taking over the world, we have four regularly in the front garden, used to see the odd one. Now noticed everywhere we go magpies are around.

[tiffers]

Another pair of Cornish Choughs spotted at the weekend. Scared the living bejesus out of me as they lurched in the air squawking away!

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

On 14/03/2024 at 16:03, Padge said:

Are magpies taking over the world, we have four regularly in the front garden, used to see the odd one. Now noticed everywhere we go magpies are around.

I think the correct answer is probably 'No', Padge.  I think their numbers can fluctuate and it is easy to not be too keen on them, because we risk being sentimental about their aggressive scavenging of other birds' nests, for instance.

As the children's song implies, they can be seen in quite large groups and I suppose heading into the breeding season, but before they have all paired up, is probably a typical time for that.

 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

Despite the grey, dank weather down here, Spring does seem to be arriving.

In a brief, more sunny moment yesterday, a song thrush at the top of a tall tree in next door's garden was going through its stunning repertoire - guaranteed to uplift the human spirit!

In Hampshire, in the space of a week, reports of an occasional solo sand martin (usually the first of the hirondine species to be reported back here) have given way to counts of 8 to 20 of them together.

The chiffchaffs are apparently back in full voice, though I haven't myself heard that yet.

[Ullman]

1 hour ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Despite the grey, dank weather down here, Spring does seem to be arriving.

In a brief, more sunny moment yesterday, a song thrush at the top of a tall tree in next door's garden was going through its stunning repertoire - guaranteed to uplift the human spirit!

In Hampshire, in the space of a week, reports of an occasional solo sand martin (usually the first of the hirondine species to be reported back here) have given way to counts of 8 to 20 of them together.

The chiffchaffs are apparently back in full voice, though I haven't myself heard that yet.

Heard my first chiffchaff of the season this morning down Willerby Low Road.

[Padge]

7 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

I think the correct answer is probably 'No', Padge.  I think their numbers can fluctuate and it is easy to not be too keen on them, because we risk being sentimental about their aggressive scavenging of other birds' nests, for instance.

As the children's song implies, they can be seen in quite large groups and I suppose heading into the breeding season, but before they have all paired up, is probably a typical time for that.

 

We have a pair of pigeons nesting in a tree at the front, they have done so for about the last four years. This time of year they start fixing up the nest for spring, as they are building it the magpies come along and nick bits of it.

[ivans82]

No Chiffchaffs as yet in West Cumbria , but saw a Blackbird and a Moorhen nest building the other day ......................correction went out last night and heard 2 male Chiffchaffs singing .

Edited March 21 by ivans82

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

18 hours ago, Padge said:

We have a pair of pigeons nesting in a tree at the front, they have done so for about the last four years. This time of year they start fixing up the nest for spring, as they are building it the magpies come along and nick bits of it.

Cunning, these magpies!