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    A bird’s a bird TRL, and it’s a lovely photo.

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      Originally posted by slackster View Post
      We had a (male) lesser spotted woodpecker in the garden earlier. First time I’ve ever seen one - they are about the size of a finch - but the Greater SW’s are daily visitors to the bird feeders. There was also a greenfinch on the feeders for the first time this year - not many around this way currently following a virus decimating their numbers.

      The those lorikeets pretty abundant in Oz cities? Made me think about the colourful and noisy ring-tailed parakeets infesting London and the South East these days - though they aren’t in our area...yet.
      Yes pretty abundant. To some extent in the city, but especially the suburbs and surrounding bush down most of the East coast, tropics to Melbourne. I believe they may be the most common bird in Sydney but don’t quote me on that. Could be the aptly name Noisy Miner.

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        Originally posted by Sits View Post
        Just popped up to the Local Shops to get some scrips. While waiting I went and sat in the park to stay away from people, and almost trod on a Rainbow Lorikeet. They’ve become pretty used to people around the shops.


        Don't feel too bad about the near-miss trampling, Sits, it's very hard to pick out on the ground there.

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          Ha

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            We saw an indigo bunting in South Carolina today. Too quick to photo but at rest they look like this:

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indi...ingonPlant.jpg

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              Back to a Newbiggin-by-the-Sea yesterday, as someone tweeted about an osprey sighting. Not around but we did have a lovely couple or of hours in the sun including a sparrow hawk attacking the high tide roost (after a Dunlin) and sending hundreds of birds into the air.

              Set of 4 different terns - Arctic, common, sandwich (noisy bastards) and roseate.

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                Originally posted by Felicity, I guess so View Post
                Back to a Newbiggin-by-the-Sea yesterday, as someone tweeted about an osprey sighting. Not around but we did have a lovely couple or of hours in the sun including a sparrow hawk attacking the high tide roost (after a Dunlin) and sending hundreds of birds into the air.

                Set of 4 different terns - Arctic, common, sandwich (noisy bastards) and roseate.

                A tern, you say? An arctic tern? (I've done this before):


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                  Originally posted by Felicity, I guess so View Post
                  Back to a Newbiggin-by-the-Sea yesterday, as someone tweeted about an osprey sighting. Not around but we did have a lovely couple or of hours in the sun including a sparrow hawk attacking the high tide roost (after a Dunlin) and sending hundreds of birds into the air.

                  Set of 4 different terns - Arctic, common, sandwich (noisy bastards) and roseate.
                  Are Roseate Terns a regular sighting?

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                    No, pretty rare these days but they are being seen all along the N East coast the last few weeks

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                      Stork argument
                      ​​​​​​

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                        We saw white pelicans in Alabama on Thursday. Very odd as they normally only stop over in Alabama, Georgia and Florida during their winter migration (we go to see them during Thanksgiving). I think these were either disconnected from the flock or were maybe too young to do the full flight north this spring.

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                          We've got a small colony of immigrants in our immediate neighbourhood. Eurasian Collared Doves were released in the Bahamas in the early 1970s and have rapidly spread across North America. My 2010 Peterson Guide notes them only as far as Southern Idaho, but the local flock has been here at least eight years. Understandably it's a species that's of "least concern."


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                            They are the ultimate colonisers. They were common when I was growing up in the Home Counties in the 70s but my Dad said there were none in his youth (30s). Apparently they’re natives of SE Asia and arrived in Western Europe only in the 50s. All of that is from memory as I have to get back to work now, and don’t have time to check. No Collared Doves in Oz though.

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                              So why are the buggers building nests in my tree in August? Are they getting early dibs on the best real estate for next Spring or what?


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                                A Wiki worth five minutes. “Invader” might be better than “coloniser”:

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                                  Not scared of me.

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                                    I dunno. He's holding his lantern rather warily.

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                                      Today's cormorant ...

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                                        Just went up to the Peaks, Derwent Valley, to see the bearded vulture who's summering here. It's not quite the Alps or Pyrenees, but it was a gorgeous morning.

                                        He was feasting on a sheep carcass below one of the ridges up the valley when I got there, out of sight. But eventually he took flight over the valley to the opposite ridge, where he found a perch to sleep off his meal.

                                        He was a magnificent bird. Enormous. I hope he sticks around.

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                                          https://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust....-peak-district

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                                            He's been here since around the end of June. Came from the continent (bloody foreign vultures coming over here sitting in our countryside), got spotted in Coventry or somewhere like that then settled in the Peak District - first around Howden then shifted its base of operations to Crowden. Done well to survive this long to be honest given the shitty gamekeepers of the Dark Peak, who usually poison any raptor as soon as they get chance (which they firmly deny as you'd expect)

                                            Jolly envious of you getting to see it, mind.

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                                              That’s fantastic.

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                                                Very jealous of EIMs vulture spotting adventure,

                                                In more mundane avian news, autumn has officially arrived on the Lancashire coast as the first few pink footed geese have flown over TrL Towers this last couple of mornings.

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                                                  A heron croaked its way overhead yesterday. Don’t see many round here.

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                                                    Probably need to zoom in a bit on this to get the full effect, but this was the seagull feeding frenzy above TrL Towers a few weeks ago on flying ants day. Only just got round to uploading the pics from the camera.


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