Great Tits

[lambers]

Spotted on a neighborhood bird table.

[Sits]

“They’ll never see me here”

[Reality Checkpoint]

As I was driving down a country lane in Norfolk yesterday I nearly hit a large turkey wandering along the road. Bootiful bird.

[San Bernardhinault]

This old bird just walked up to my office window. The two lumps behind her to the left are two of the eight or so chicks that she created this year that occasionally come walking through my garden.

[torres]

Couldn’t get a clear picture of this Swallow as it was pissing down

[Sits]

Clearly it didn’t make a summer.

[ad hoc]

We were on a hike today and, approaching a lake, disturbed a [correct collective noun here] of herons. Never seen so many of them in one place and a real shame that they saw us before we saw them

All of them flying around


Then they started sitting in trees with the two you can see on the tops of the two trees to the right, seemingly given the task of watching for when we finally buggered off and allowed them back to the water

[ad hoc]

A siege of herons, apparently

[Capybara]

A Red Kite over Harrogate earlier:

[S. aureus]

From the fluffiness, I think this is a young jay. Seems to spend a lot of time in my yard, so maybe the offspring of the pair that were/are nesting in my hedge.

[Capybara]

No pictures but I saw some Lapwings at the weekend, near Hammerton from the train between Harrogate and York. It's not that long (or seems that way - it's probably 20-30 years) since you'd see hundreds of them regularly but they have been in decline and are on the UK Red List. These were the first I'd seen in ages.

[tee rex]

You know those flights that run into difficulty and the pilot has to turn around and go back? Well, they've got nothing on the godwit ...

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...to-turn-around

Sets out to fly from Alaska to New Zealand. After 33 hours runs into turbulence. Decides to return to base. Touches down after 57 hours in the air.

It's amazing that this happens, and even more amazing that we know about it. Now all we need is a brain implant to track the decision-making process ("Hmmm, this is a right old buffeting, I'll give it another half hour ... no, abort, abort!").

[Third rate Leszno]

No pictures but I saw some Lapwings at the weekend, near Hammerton from the train between Harrogate and York. It's not that long (or seems that way - it's probably 20-30 years) since you'd see hundreds of them regularly but they have been in decline and are on the UK Red List. These were the first I'd seen in ages.

We get the odd one (or more usually a pair) on the fields out the back of our house, but I saw a small flock of 30 or so flying beside the M6 just outside Penrith on Saturday and thought then that I'd not seen so many in a group for some time.

[Artificial Hipster]

I saw a large group a few days ago too (probably somewhere on my way to Chorley) and remarked to myself that I hadn't seen such numbers for a long time. Hopefully it's an encouraging sign but I'd be more inclined to think this is the time of year for large gatherings for whatever reason that might be.

[Sits]

That’s a shame, lapwings (or peewits as my grandad used to call them) were a common sight in many open areas when I was young.

It will surprise nobody to hear that their Australian equivalent, the masked lapwing, sometimes dive bombs people and has sharp spurs on its wings.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Peeweeps in Elgin.

We still get decent sized groups, sometimes hundreds, on Northumberland coast

[Sits]

I’m tempted by the kookaburra, frogmouth and brush turkey but I think the Aussie magpie gets my vote:

[Reality Checkpoint]

A Cheeky young starling checking me out yesterday

[Third rate Leszno]

Really good sized flock of lapwings on the freshly ploughed fields near my village today - probably 150-200.

[Sits]

[Sits]

That's an Australian Raven.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Snow Geese heading south

[Sits]

They got the urge for going.

[Felicity, I guess so]

He's a real predator in the penalty area (football pitch on the Annan flood plain)

[Gangster Octopus]

Is there a raptor living in King's Cross station?