Great Tits

[Andy C]

Great Tits

Sparrowhawk! In the back garden, just now!

[MsD]

Great Tits

The Exploding Vole wrote: It's great the way blackbirds warble. Quite often at the end, they finish with such a flourish I think they impress themselves. You'd swear at times they're chirping, "Ha! What about that then?"

Ha, yes, indeed. They are fabulous performers.

By contrast,"our" owl sounds a bit embarrassed, as though all too aware that t-wit, t-woo is a cliche and comedy staple. "I don't write this material, OK?"

Sparrowhawk, eh?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Great Tits

Andy C wrote: Sparrowhawk! In the back garden, just now!

Very cool, even more so depending on where you live. Round here it's raptorland, eagles, hawks, owls own the place. I love watching the Harriers hunting in the early morning. They seem to get the maximum out of every tiny breeze.

[Andy C]

Great Tits

Very cool, even more so depending on where you live.

Well inside the M25, so it's a bit of a surprise, indeed.

[Furtho]

Great Tits

Couple of kite today, in their familiar territory to the northern end of the Chilterns.

[The Alan Partridge Project]

Great Tits

Andy C wrote:

Very cool, even more so depending on where you live.

Well inside the M25, so it's a bit of a surprise, indeed.

I saw what I'm led to believe was possibly a sparrowhawk bring down a bird in my road a year or so ago.

I wasn't sure what I'd seen at first and thought that the two-bird conjoined flight that I'd witnessed might have been some sort of mating routine. Then I walked over to where they'd come down and saw the one ripping the other ones throat out at which point I felt the need to reassess my previous supposition.

[WOM]

Great Tits

Just yesterday I was doing one of those long, solitary 'stand on the front porches' that smokers do often, but nons like me...not so much. I was quiet and still, and a humming bird came up and did its nervous duck and dive thing for the first few mouths-full. Then he got comfortable, and hung around for a good long lunch. I was maybe four feet away for a good three minutes while he had his fill.

Then he was gone like a bullet. Fascinating little things, hummingbirds.

[Sits]

Great Tits

Furtho wrote: Couple of kite today, in their familiar territory to the northern end of the Chilterns.

There was a time less than thirty years ago when that statement would have been utterly ridiculous. A little pocket of survivors in Wales, and that was it. They are magnificent.

[ad hoc]

Great Tits

This summer along with the many redstarts, and the occasional visit from a woodpecker, we've been inundated with fieldfares in our garden, and also some wheatears (sp?) - in fact there's one bush not far from the front gate where I can guarantee seeing a wheater sitting in the same spot day in day out.

Birds of pray are extremely common round here, but I usually see them when I'm driving and don't have the time to really work out what they are. the eagles I can tell, just from the sheer size, but the others, not so much.

Storks left this weekend, sadly. Autumn is here.

[Sits]

Great Tits

By contrast,"our" owl sounds a bit embarrassed, as though all too aware that t-wit, t-woo is a cliche and comedy staple. "I don't write this material, OK?"

Heard a good owl the other night. Usually we only hear Boobok Owls (sound like an English Cuckoo) but this was a lot "bigger" and more mournful. Just having a little dig around and quite excited that it may have been a Powerful Owl, Australia's largest. Great name too.

[gyp]

Great Tits

Every so often a Powerful Owl turns up in one of the central parks in Melbourne - Flagstaff Gardens or Treasury Gardens usually. They're incredible birds - they hunt possums each night and you can spot them during the day time sitting there dozing with half a possum still wedged under their claws. Wonderful (although not for the possums I guess).

[Andy C]

Great Tits

A nuthatch, yesterday, interloping in the Goldfinch Bistro we seem to be running at the front of the house.

[evilC]

Great Tits

I've been neglecting this thread, though I do have a very belated contribution - one that blew my mind at the time.

About a year ago, I was doing the washing up, when I noticed a small, but colourful, movement on the bush that surrounds the kitchen windowsill: it was a Firecrest! I'd never seen one before. I didn't even know they were from round these parts (Surrey/Hampshire border heathland) but one landed right in front of me on this shrub-thing. I was also blown away by just how tiny they are. I'm used to Wrens, but this was something else!

[evilC]

Great Tits

What certain birdsong has in common with football chants.

[torres]

Great Tits

Yeah. You'll see a few Firecrests down your way if you keep your eyes peeled. Surrey was where I used to stay and the birdwatching was superb.

[The Alan Partridge Project]

Great Tits

Wow - what was that in the back garden! A quick Googling suggests it was a green woodpecker:

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Great Tits

Also called a Yaffle.

Old English bird names are ace. Throstle, Yaffle. West Brom used to be called the Throstles. And someone (Farsley Celtic?) played at Throstle's Nest.

[Heatwaving Not Drowning]

Great Tits

This was about twenty yards from Partick Thistles stadium.Firhill for trills it seems...........


the poser by new dawn fades2010, on Flickr

[torres]

Great Tits

Spotted my first flock of Waxwings this winter in Falkirk. Must be cold up in Scandinavia.

[Gangster Octopus]

Great Tits

I can hear a woodpecker.

[treibeis]

Great Tits

Bizarre Löw Triangle wrote: Also called a Yaffle.

The most famous yaffle ever:

[Sits]

Great Tits

I've noticed that in the years we've lived here, Corellas have moved into the area. Typically a desert dweller.

As you were.

[Third rate Leszno]

Great Tits

Garden visitor of the furry rather than feathered kind at TrL Towers recently - a red squirrel!

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Great Tits

MsD wrote: I saw a policeman with a bird on his shoulder, with dark markings and a long tail like that ... I think it was a telltale tit.

What about the bird, though?

[Felicity, I guess so]

Great Tits

Riding to work on weds I saw a whole line of cars parked on the verge of the country road that leads from edge of Gateshead to edge of Sunderland.

Now this road is known locally as a (gay) dogging site. But it was only 9 a.m., so there had to be another explanation.

20+ older men twitching at a rough-legged buzzard, as it happens.

I rang Ms Felicity, who likes birdwatching, and regularly visits the blogs of local birders, most of whom were clearly on the spot. She had a quick look at the photos and decided it wasn't worth the trip.

Apparently it looked like a buzzard, but with rougher legs.