Thetownend.com

What is going on with all them birds (feathered type).

They have been swarming over by the back of the railway station for 2 weeks. And yesterday evening doing the same over Old Walcot.

Very bizarre.

Maybe they are planning a coo.

[url width=472 height=323]http://hitchcock.tv/mov/birds/images/birds.jpg[/url]

They're waiting for the lighting seeds concert on the CG.

It's called a murmuration of starlings  :sherlock:

almost as cool as a parliament of owls

And nowhere near as good as an exaltation of starlings. not even close to a murder of crows/

A murder of crows...
A committee (or venue) of vultures..
A mob of Emu.

Collective names of birds are cool.

I always thought it was an exaltation of larks...I recently discovered that it's a charm of goldfinches, a handsome bird whose numbers seem to be on the up.

you could be right Reg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_collective_nouns

I particularly appreciate the fact that there are three different collective nouns for auks.

Other good ones are>

A gulp of cormorants
A fling of dunlins
A fall of woodcocks
A dopping of sheldrake

A "tesco chicken madras" of seagulls

:clap:

Feckers are still up there...

Alanis Morissette.

Wrong thread?

Birds flying? I don't believe it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-22019078

Ace.

On Sunday, I saw a fine bird of prey, in the Front Garden...not one I can remember seeing before, on checking the books could have been a Merlin or a Hobby.

I'm inclined to think it was a Hobby, although these are rarer, because Merlins supposedly like estuaries and marsh, whereas Hobbys like fields, hedges and downs.

Apparently Hobbys come for the summer in April, so that just about fits.

[url width=900 height=375]http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/hobby_tcm9-327590.jpg?width=1170&crop=%280,296,1400,880%29[/url]

They're quite different in size too. I've seen Merlins sat on fences/lights on the roads waiting to grab some roadkill before.

You sure they're Merlins and not Kestrels?  According to my book Merlins are 27-32 cm Hobbys are 30-36 Kestrels 33-36 cm. So difficult to tell apart by size.

doh, you're right. I was thinking about Kestrel not Merlin. Just woken up and only had the one cuppa so far..

A kestrel flew into my greenhouse the other day and broke its neck the poor sod. Lovely looking bird and pretty big with wings spread.

Are you sure it wasn't a sparrow hawk...

[url width=248 height=414]http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m238/gwetin/hawk_sparrow_3.jpg[/url]

Been lucky enough to see a sparrow hawk take out a pigeon twice...

Not 100% but pretty sure it was a Kestrel based on feathers and markings and head. Although the female sparrowhawk does seem to be relatively similar.

 Most likely to have been a sparrowhawk...I did wonder about mine being a sparrowhawk, as I recently saw one in the Lawn Woods. This thing was very dark grey on its back all the way to tail feathers, which weren't banded.

I only wonder because I made the mistake of mixing Kestrel and Sparrowhawk talking to a keeper at the Hawk Conservancy. It was fairly obvious to them, they said Kestrels don't normally take pigeons (too big)...

Falcons on the the other hand....but I didn't really know that they needed to swoop because pigeons are usually faster than falcons in level flight.

Identifying birds of prey, is a real difficult thing for the casual bird watcher...there's a few obvious ones....like Kestrel, when hovering, Sparrowhawk when diving, Buzzard...soaring and mewing, and now Red Kite...big bugger with a fork red tail. It's when you see one which doesn't fall into the category, it's a problem.

All you can do is try and rule out what it can't be. I'm convinced I saw an Osprey, on the fledgling Thames between Cerney Wick and Cricklade, some years back. Huge bugger just sat on a tree stump peering into the water...very white looking thing, on its own. Now apparently they like open water, and the Water Park is nearby...and their numbers are increasing...absolutely electrifying like nothing I've seen before or since.

Mmmmm having looked again at about 300 images of each on google, i'm still none the wiser. Listening to to you both has now got me edging towards it being the sparrowhawk.

Presumably the sparrowhawk is more likely to be in my garden (i just live on a estate not in the sticks) and therefore end up flying into my garden greenhouse? What was more surprising to me was that it was only about a foot from the house too.

Now that i can identify. We have loads of em here these days.

When in doubt that's the sort of thing you have to go by...an old mate, big Town fan who now lives down in Somerset, was a proper bird of prey man...sort who'd get up at 4:00 in the morning and drive miles to watch something he'd heard about on the grapevine. Only did it for birds of prey mind, so not quite a proper looney.

Fair dues. I'll content myself with it having been a sparrowhawk then. I harbour a casual interest but early starts on that scale is proper dedication. Cheers Reg.

I've seen a sparrowhawk chase a small bird into a hedge.

We had a sparrowhawk in our garden recently (I posted it in the other birds thread here (http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=48271.msg1141203#msg1141203)) ripping a pigeon to pieces. Luckily it just left a pile of feathers and not half a pigeon carcass to dispose of.

So, yeah, it was probably a Sparrowhawk.

Don't rule out a Peregrine Falcon........A fair few around now.

Sparrowhawks have a different wing shape and tails to Kestrels, both very common.

Could be a Hobby. I was watching one hunting last year in a field adjacent to the River Cherwell.
Relatively small.
Female Sparrowhawks are bigger than the Males.

I never got to see these cool birds when I was out and about, asides from an Owl I saw in lawn woods that is. Just pigeons and fucking starlings mostly.

A bird in the hand FH!

Think that's pretty much the way with all raptors...

Stumbled across this and thought it may be of interest to some on here:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdidentifier/

This is the first Bird thread I found in the search, so...

Had just let the chickens out this morning and gone back in the house, when I heard an awful ruckus coming from the run. Went back down the garden, wondering what the hell it was- first thought was fox, as there's apparently been one snooping around the area during daylight and we have young chicks atm.

I look around and see not only a bloody sparrowhawk but a young Buzzard as well, both sat on top of the garage, about 10m away from the hen run and the front door. Both raptors could see me and were looking at me as I walked down the garden, but completely ignored me, despite me clapping and waving my arms to try and get them to go away. I was virtually within touching distance when they finally buggered off, and they didn't return (no alarm calls from the hens for the rest of the day).

Has anyone ever seen these two hunting together? I've never seen them in the same place, let alone sat on top of a garage barely a couple of metres from each other. I've seen four or five buzzards put up with company when a field's being turned over to get at the worms, but not with sparrowhawks...

Got home a few weeks back and noticed a load of feathers on the path leading to the front door.  Went out the back of found this fella finishing a pigeon.

(http://i.imgur.com/EryGZq1.jpg)

Managed to get a few snaps before it clocked me and flew off with what remained of the pigeon.  Does anyone know what bird this was?

Sparrowhawk

Cheers!

Just returned from the Isle of Canna where we had a very close encounter with a Golden Eagle...came round a  corner and there he was, sitting on a crag about 6ft away from us. When we and he had recovered from our surprise, he took off and flew right across my shoulder! Amazing sight and once seen never ever confused again.

To be more exact, a female sparrowhawk. (Slightly bigger than the male that also has a more "bluish" colouring). Another bird that has migrated in recent times from the Country into built up areas.

Amazing.
Puts my Nuthatch on my bird table this morning to shame :)
Mind you we had 15 gold finches on the seeds for breakfast this morning.

Just also for the bird lovers. This is the month when you get less Starlings in the garden as they "gorge" on the ripe elderberries in the Countryside. This allows more food and better viewing of smaller song birds to enter the garden in search of food.
A big month for birds to build up before the winter sets in particularly this years young.

Swallows are a little late leaving the UK this year and with a mild weekend could see some stragglers leaving into October.

Scotland is where you all need to head to.

In recent years I've seen:

- A short-eared owl sitting on a fence post about 8 feet away just looking at me (on Orkney)
- Buzzards / Red Kites by the dozen all across the highlands
- White tailed sea eagles on Skye - Which are HUUUUUUGE!

Judging by the number I saw earlier today they're all on Ladygrove estate in Didcot.

(http://i.imgur.com/OLkBsec.gif)

Saw two Kingfishers darting only about a foot above the Monmouth and Breknockshire canal this afternoon. A very pleasant afternoon (highly recommended) on the towpath was capped by sighting a heron, which only took flight when we were about 10 metres from it. Didn't even know we have herons in these isles. Impressive wingspan. Must be quite something to cop one of those on your windscreen!

Rare sightings, right?

I will be in the Lea Valley Country Park near Cheshunt next week. Looking at the Google aerial view i'm in for a treat!

Herons aren't exactly as common as muck, but they're not exactly rare. See 'em all the time. Long as you're anywhere near a pond or body of fresh water, you're likely to get one.

not really, no

Ok, not strictly a bird, but you twitching types (I'm looking at you Smeeton) are most likely to know the answer.

I'm currently staying in rural Burgundy, and this morning a huge, bright green grasshopper thing flew in the window. About 8cm long. We don't have locusts in this part of the world do we?

You sure it isn't a preying Mantis?. they're quite common in Europe. I saw some big ones in Greece.

One of these perhaps?

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/great-green-bush-cricket

 The migratory locust is pretty much planet wide, apart from Antarctica. Not so common in Europe, but not unknown...

 (http://www.3dxtras.com/upload/145/pics/big_Migratory%20Locust.jpg)

fuck that

Could be, been very hot. Don't sleep naked...

I did. What'll happen to me?

Looked a bit more like the bush cricket, green all over, but if they only grow to 7cm, then I'm crap at estimating size. And no man will admit to that.


Is that intended as advice?

Of a sort