Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos
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Heh!
Speaking of governments and birds. About twenty years ago Vancouver city council contemplated a Canada goose cull in Stanley Park. It, of course, immediately became controversial. One of the objections being that, as they don't spend the entire year in the park, they weren't resident so the city had no jurisdiction in the matter. So if they weren't municipal geese, people wondered, who's were they? Were they Provincial geese, or Federal geese? I believe we're still waiting for the answer.
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I'm in Porthmadog (North Wales) for the week, with the main goal being to see the Ospreys that breed nearby. However, a morning walk around the harbour brought a plethora of waders - Oystercatcher, Redshank, Greenshank and Curlew - and others such as Little Grebe. Very pleasing.
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The wife has been encouraging me to go to our local nature reserve lately after she joined the RSPB as a volunteer.
Combined with getting a new DSLR, I have been thoroughly enjoying it, afraid I've not seen anything half as exotic as some of you, but I was pleased with this photo I got, I think it's a Common Tern. Pure luck with the pic!
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Resist the tern puns again, everyone... Nice shot superstu, and welcome!
Like SdR, I had a bit of a 'grebe-y' morning – was watching several Great Crested Grebes sailing around serenely (though not literally) at Penarth Marina while crossing the pedestrian bridge toward Cardiff. Er, me, not the grebes. There were also cormorants sitting happily on the low barrage just upriver where two waterways meet, in their usual spot next to the No Fishing signs, which always tickles me immoderately.
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Day two in Porthmadog. A brief morning walk from the harbour up the coast in the direction of Pwllheli brought Goldcrest. Then Greylag Goose later in the day near Pont Croesor. Then, later still, a walk along the Cob brought more Curlew, herons and an enormous flock of gulls in the far distance - hundreds of them. Then, a larger bird overhead. Osprey, hovering over the river before slowly crossing to the estuary and heading out to sea. They really are magnificent birds. Shame I didn't have my camera with me, but I shall be trying to find them again before the week is out.
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I am currently in the Danube Delta with the family. Having a great time. This afternoon we went out on a boat and toured the various channels and islands and saw pods of pelicans, gulps of cormorants, bevies of swans and lots of herons, egrets, snakes, eagles, frogs, terns, gulls, storks, ducks and some birds which I initially thought were bitterns but which now I believe were squacco herons.
My ability to look up collective nouns on the Internet is much better than my ability to take photos of birds with my phone, however, so you'll just have to take my word for it
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I am currently in the Danube Delta with the family. Having a great time. This afternoon we went out on a boat and toured the various channels and islands and saw pods of pelicans, gulps of cormorants, bevies of swans and lots of herons, egrets, snakes, eagles, frogs, terns, gulls, storks, ducks and some birds which I initially thought were bitterns but which now I believe were squacco herons.
My ability to look up collective nouns on the Internet is much better than my ability to take photos of birds with my phone, however, so you'll just have to take my word for it
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Are you still in the Danube Delta, ad hoc? Hope you'll post at least a couple of photos – would love to see how it looks. My uncle runs a wildlife holiday company and it's been one of their destinations for several years and is reputed to be superb. They stay in a 'floating hotel' on a pontoon, which is towed out into the delta for several days along with numerous boat trips. Their local partners and co-leaders for the tours are Ibis Tours, run by Eugen and Dan Petrescu (not that one); Eugen Petrescu is the Romanian Ornithological Society’s representative in the Delta.
Squacco herons appear to be a paler bittern, broadly speaking. I've never seen a bittern either, and likewise to Sits and SdR's comments would love to do so.
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- Mar 2008
- 9762
- Tyne 'n' Wear (emphasis on the 'n')
- Dundee Utd, Gladbach, Atleti, Napoli, New Orleans Saints, Elgin City
This summer I spent a week on the Ross of Mull (the Southern peninsula that leads to Iona) and ten days or so in rural Asturias.
Ms Felicity is the keen birdwatcher and talks in terms of 'lifers' so this year's were: a pair of Golden Eagles sitting on an island in a loch (lifers for UK, anyway); an Egyptian vulture sweeping over our lunch for about 10 minutes in a tiny village called Vis near Cangas de Onis; a short-toed eagle on the Leon/Asturias border (binos not good enough to see its toes, but it is distinctively largely white underneath).
Not lifers, but always fun- common-as-muck buzzards in both places- on Mull saw one drop from a telegraph pole onto a bush to grab a blackbird and hoopoes (hilariosly named upupa epops in Latin).
Nae pictures, sorry.
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First pink footed geese of the season have just flown over Trlb Towers - that makes it officially autumn in my book.
By the way FIGS, where did you stay when you were on the Ross of Mull? I've never been up there birding but I have spent plenty of time there and still every time I go, I manage to find somewhere new and magical to visit.
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- Mar 2008
- 9762
- Tyne 'n' Wear (emphasis on the 'n')
- Dundee Utd, Gladbach, Atleti, Napoli, New Orleans Saints, Elgin City
By the way FIGS, where did you stay when you were on the Ross of Mull?
About a mile from Bunessan, the property (1-bed cottage) was set back from the tiny back road with a view of the Burg and its own path down to a small cove. If you're interested I can dig out the actual name. We had a deer run through while we were sitting out one evening.
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Originally posted by Felicity, I guess so View PostBy the way FIGS, where did you stay when you were on the Ross of Mull?
About a mile from Bunessan, the property (1-bed cottage) was set back from the tiny back road with a view of the Burg and its own path down to a small cove. If you're interested I can dig out the actual name. We had a deer run through while we were sitting out one evening.
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I love this thread!
I'm just back from a holiday in Bali (like the cliched Australian that I am). It was not as 'birdy' as I was imagining, although I did manage to track down a pair of a chestnut-breasted malhokas, which was an astonishing experience. Other highlights were barred button-quail, Javan kingisher, purple heron and black-naped monarch. All squeezed in around cocktails and lounging by the pool - pretty much the ideal holiday.
Last edited by gyp; 18-09-2017, 05:55. Reason: Resizing the image - is there any way to set the width in the board rather than having to resize the original file?
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