Great Tits

[ursus arctos]

The falcons' diet is very pigeon-centric

[Satchmo Distel]

I'm surprised councils don't breed them for that purpose.

[Sits]

I think some do, but may be misremembering.

The one in the photo ursus shared almost looks like part of the building ornament, gargoyle style.

[ursus arctos]

See, e.g., the eagle on Benfica's crest



This photographer was able to get one descending from its perch

https://twitter.com/carenjahre/status/1534654937866592257?s=61&t=xvOireV8JOIS_CpbTtDBow]

[Capybara]

A Little Egret at Shoeburyness yesterday. It's not a great picture because it's a long way off and I only have a small point-and-shoot. I don't think I've ever seen a Little Egret before. They were quite rare in the UK until fairly recently.

[Nocturnal Submission]

There's a huge amount of small bird activity just out the back at the moment. Dunnocks, robins and tits everywhere. They're pecking at the leylandii, having dust baths underneath it, scrapping - it's all quite wonderful, if slightly dizzying. Some are even hovering in front of the French window, which I don't recall ever seeing before.

[Sits]

Loud shenanigans here too this morning with the ravens moaning away at the shrieking cockatoos. Can’t say I’ve noticed argy bargy between these in the past. In fact there was such a hubbub it made me wonder if there was a big raptor around and they were all shouting about that.

[Balderdasha]

A Little Egret at Shoeburyness yesterday. It's not a great picture because it's a long way off and I only have a small point-and-shoot. I don't think I've ever seen a Little Egret before. They were quite rare in the UK until fairly recently.

We are fortunate to have a pair in our local park which we see most weeks. We don't ever see them together, but I know there are two of them because I've occasionally seen them both simultaneously at opposite ends of the river. I don't know if they're a pair that have a hidden nest somewhere or if they're just two neighbours who prefer to keep their distance.

[torres]

A flock of Shag on the island of Mingulay.

[Sits]

[insert crass shag jokes here]


Anyway, lately I have been waking up too early, between 4am and 430am. Sunsrise isn't until around 6:30 and I have been reminded of the (Australian) Magie's pre-dawn song. This is a melodic phrase, repeated at intervals of around two seconds, literally for hours approaching dawn. It begins extremely softly and very gradually rises in volume so that by dawn the bird is pretty much singing normally. There must be thousands of repetitions each day and yet (to me at least) it's pleasurable, soft and makes the pre-dawn feel less lonely. I also love the way these birds sing anyway; it's totally unique.

More on the pre-dawn singing here: https://absa.asn.au/corella_document...bicen-tibicen/

[slackster]

I had a nice ramble out and back along the coast path between St Anne’s Head, Dale and Marloes Sands on Sunday, and was fascinated by a fair number of peregrine falcons hovering and riding the breeze over the cliffs looking for prey, before diving down to the ground. Firstly thought it was kestrels (because of the hovering), but a few were close enough to make out the black caps and greyish hue. Sadly my ‘vintage’ phone camera wasn’t up to taking a decent pic.

[Sits]

It’s great to know that Peregrines have staged a recovery in the UK as I believe they were extremely rare not so long ago.

[S. aureus]

There’s a peregrine nest up Salisbury Cathedral, and we got excellent views of one flying around while we were up there this afternoon. They have closed off the side of the tower where the nest is.

[Discordant Resonance]

Corncrakes are making a slow, but sustained, recovery in Ireland.

[Capybara]

I this little thing flitting around earlier. It's a young goldfinch with its markings not fully-developed yet.

[Balderdasha]

Not a great photo but I saw this fly across my friend's garden and land in the tree next door. I think it was a heron. Looked magnificent in real life.

[Balderdasha]

And we fed the ducks again this week. There are always loads of Canada geese and then this one single pink-footed goose. It's there every year. I don't know why it hangs out with the Canada geese instead of its own species.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I'm using Merlin a bit more sparingly these days, partly because the novelty has worn off and partly because I want to get a better idea of seasonal changes to the birdlife in the back garden, but I stuck my mobile on the patio for a few minutes yesterday afternoon and bagged a couple of new species, viz. a common swift and another rare one, a spotted flycatcher.

That's 28 species now.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Just nabbed a blackcap, so that's 29.

[torres]

Ooh. Good spot with the Spotted Flycatcher.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Ooh. Good spot with the Spotted Flycatcher.

Yes, it was nice to be able to add it to the list, but the birds are often buried so deep in the foliage so I can't actually see them most of the time. Lovely to hear them, though.

[ad hoc]

I have started using it in the evening as I get different birds then. This weekend I got a little owl and a Syrian woodpecker.

[S. aureus]

Birds heard by Merlin in my back garden since mid-June, multiple times and visually identified (well, I saw a bird that looks like the online picture) except where noted:

Black Phoebe
American Crow
California Towhee
Anna's Hummingbird
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bewick's Wren - hear this a lot, and it's really loud, but I've never convincingly seen one (maybe in the distance, but it could have been anything)
House Finch
Nuttall's Woodpecker - sadly I've not seen this guy, though heard it several times
Orange-crowned Warbler - only once
Dark-eyed Junco
House Sparrow
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-winged Blackbird
Wilson's Warbler - only once, not seen
California Scrub-Jay
Bushtit
Mallard
Oak Titmouse
Mourning Dove
Hooded Oriole - only once, not seen
Western Bluebird - only once, not seen
Green-winged Teal - only once, not seen
Cooper's Hawk - only once. I have seen a hawk several times, and assumed that it was a red-tailed one as they're the most common round here, but maybe it was this guy. It doesn't stick around to be examined once it realizes you're there.
Caspian Tern - only once
Wild Turkey - only once, and not seen though you'd think that I'd have noticed if an effing turkey was in my garden.
Snowy Egret - only once, though seen several times
Warbling Vireo - only once, not seen

Otherwise I've also seen night herons flying past, and coots in the creek (ditch) behind (actually, the coots probably weren't in the same timeframe, but they're not uncommon back there).

I'm a bit disappointed with not seeing many of the birds that Merlin heard once, as they appear to be quite bright in colour.

[S. aureus]

...and here's the list of what Merlin heard around my parents' house in early August (mostly along the path a couple of fields away).

Common Wood-Pigeon
Eurasian Magpie
House Sparrow
Goldcrest
Common Chaffinch
Common Chiffchaff
Spotted Flycatcher
European Robin
Dunnock
Eastern Jackdaw
European Greenfinch
Common Buzzard
European Goldfinch
Eurasian Blackbird
Eurasian Linnet
Willow Warbler
Great Tit
Eurasin Sparrowhawk
Eurasian Wren
Eurasian Bullfinch
Rook
European Pied Flycatcher
House Sparrow

[Artificial Hipster]

I keep hearing spotted flycatchers wherever I go but I've yet to actually see one. I'll compile a list of those I've seen or heard at the end of the year but in the meantime here's a couple from Scotland.

An osprey on an island in Loch Lomand



A hoodie on Loch Long