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Done some googling can't find one that gives me mugshots of seabirds so I can identify a particular type I saw today - any ideas ?
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Seagull? :-)
www.pbase.com/jpkln/gulls
Someone on here will like the feathered birds. Someone good at googling will find you what you want.
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Thanks both....sorted. Black headed gull by all appearances. Local ducks take 'em on for bready bits.
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One of my favourite sources of cheap amusement is to park near Hurst castle or Lepe country park and chuck some chips on the Vectra's glass sunroof. With seconds there are about 8 billion black headed gulls pecking away. A couple placed on the top of the dash ( chips not gulls) near the windscreen doesn't half confuse 'em.
Little things please little minds.
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...chuck some chips on the Vectra's glass sunroof...about 8 billion black headed gulls pecking away...
spamcan,
Does this not result in some unwanted deposits?
I ask because this is similar to an old caravanners' trick to be used if you are in dispute with the guy in the 'van next to yours.
Chuck some bread on the roof of his caravan and it will soon be covered in bird mess.
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One of the many joys of retirement - I have a bird-table now and happily watch them from the kitchen - funny the new stuff you suddenly notice when you have the time.
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Anyone on here ever go to the Hulme (Manchester) Asda... I've visited a few times recently and there are some comical birds there who are not afraid of humans. A bit like on that advert where the birds don't fly to be honest.
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>> Anyone on here ever go to the Hulme (Manchester) Asda... I've visited a few times
>> recently and there are some comical birds there who are not afraid of humans.
Is that the one across the road from the brewery, Rob? Mrs B-to-be's kids live fairly near there so we go in quite regularly. Can't say as I've noticed the fearless birds though. What have noticed is the complete failure of the vast majority of car park users to give way at the roundabout at the entrance.
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Sounds like the same car park. It can take an age to get out too. The birds were not there when we popped there last week but have been most of the times recently. I never used to visit too often.
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I've put bird feeders out and a container of fresh water. One feeder's got tiny seeds in it, another's got peanuts and a third has fat balls. What do I get? Pigeons, mouldy seeds and peanuts.
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
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>>Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
Well, peanuts seem to go in cycles. We had a couple of years where nobody was interested in them at all - this year they are a little bit more popular with the bluetits, but not much.
But location makes a difference. You have to think like a small bird - will they feel safe on your feeder? Bluetits, for example, like to take a seed and disappear into a well hidden branch to eat it, so they seem to like cover fairly near. But too much cover might hide predators, so other birds like things to be a bit more open. You need to experiment - even moving a feeder from one tree branch to another higher one can help.
If you put out thistle seeds you might, as we do, get flocks of goldfinches, and they just sit and stuff themselves without so much as flap even if there's a cat in the garden, we've found. You might even get siskins.
We've also found we've had the same food in different colour feeders next to one another and one gets emptied and the other ignored.
So in short, don't give up, experiment with all the variables. Once you get it right for your birds in your location it's all worthwhile.
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We put peanuts in our bird feeders, all we got was pigeons and the outhouse rat from under next door's shed. Switched to sunflower hearts and we get about a dozen goldfinches, blue tits, great tits, greenfinches and chaffinches. Plus the a very occasional nuthatch. We also find that with the same feed in very similar feeders one gets much more custom than the other. The blue tits do prefer the feeders close to the fence, the goldfinches aren't bothered about location it seems.
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had a wren in the garden this last 6 weeks
never seen one before so bought it some worm food
blackbirds love raisins i have lots of these plus percy the robin hes a beut and eats everything and chases the blackbirds away
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...percy the robin hes a beut and eats everything and chases the blackbirds away...
I've always thought robins are the lager louts of the bird world.
You don't want one to fly into the house - it means there's about to be a death in the family, so my grandmother used to tell me.
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Actually, whilst we're on the subject, do we have any proper bird spotters on here who know what this is? I'm not really sure whether it's a young Greenfich or something else?
tinypic.com/r/28jgcp/6
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Male siskin, and nice photo!
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>> Male siskin and nice photo!
>>
Thanks for that! A bit more exotic than the usual finches then. I spent about half an hour crouching in SWMBO's greenhouse with the camera poking out the door; usually all the birds do a runner the moment I get my camera out. :-/
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You know when you've got the siskins. As it were. Make a right old row in groups.
We got a little tiny (and I mean tiny) video camera that comes with a clip and records onto a micro sd card. Clip it near the feeder and the birds take no notice of it. We got some great close up footage of a woodpecker on day one.
Got ours from Maplin, but they're on eBay much cheaper as well now, and the resolution keeps getting better as fast as the price falls on those I think.
If anyone is interested it was this one.
www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=256541
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Any chance of another bit of bird identification? There were a couple of these little fellas hopping about underneath the feeders just now, I though it was some flavour of sparrow but I'm not so sure now:-
tinypic.com/r/1z6xtds/6
Cheers.
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I know little about birds but would like to say I'm impressed with your photos. Were they taken on a box brownie?
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Thanks :-). they're taken with my ancient ( by digital standards) Panasonic FZ-20, a good camera in its day, and I've no intention of replacing it. I've just bought a cheapo cable release off eBay for it, so I'm hoping to get some better bird close ups on the feeders.
Today's sparrow like bird was taken in a hurry through the tinted double glazed conservatory window, with a bit of contrast and colour adjustment it turned out surprisingly well.
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>> taken in a hurry through the tinted double glazed conservatory window
I would never have guessed that - very impressive
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Spamcan - I *think* that it's a dunnock.
tinyurl.com/6df92z
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>> Spamcan - I *think* that it's a dunnock.
>>
>> tinyurl.com/6df92z
>>
>>
Cheers, yes the plumage certainly looks like a 100% match, I reckon you're right.
Been trying out the cable release on the goldfinches now, who've been binging on the sunflower hearts all afternoon. The dunnock photo looks better methinks, despite being a grab shot.
tinypic.com/r/29w36lf/6
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Adult dunnock it is, but good luck telling boys from girls in the dunnock world. And I agree, another Fine Photo.
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A dunnock is sometimes called a "hedge sparrow". It's not a seabird, though.
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>> ...chuck some chips on the Vectra's glass sunroof...about 8 billion black headed gulls pecking away...
>>
>> spamcan
>>
>> Does this not result in some unwanted deposits?
>>
in a word - yes - but being a Bangernomics guy I'm not too bothered about the alteration to the Vectra's paint finish. Doesn't tend to make you popular with nearby cars though, best practised in the winter months.
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i hate vermin with wings
even sellafield are culling the culls
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they are radioactive gulls, you wouldnt want those on your vectra roof
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>> they are radioactive gulls you wouldnt want those on your vectra roof
>>
>>
yeah. metallic blue with added Plutonium ;-)
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My dad once shot down a seagull with a golf ball at Dalmahoy.
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...a seagull with a golf ball at Dalmahoy....
How did the seagull manage to fly and carry a golf ball at the same time?
Sorry, couldn't resist it. :)
Last edited by: ifithelps on Sat 27 Feb 10 at 23:02
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Sid the seagull loved his chips
not for him to follow ships
steady now, it looks like vomit
that eel`s too round - oh! a grommit
He scans the City streets below
where Human habits are to throw
please toss that curry carton dear
or hungers ugly head will rear
Sid sides-slips in the Winter`s air
It`s all or nothing, to be fair
Gasping now with air brakes on
dumping weight on paint that shone
Now, stomach full and at no cost
Sid looks down on the freedom lost
not for them land, sea and sky
Bi-ped creatures, you should cry.
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You get pidgeons.......you're lucky!
I opened the curtains this morning and there's a magnificent Cock Pheasant lazily eating the leftovers on the lawn under the bird feeders:)
Pat
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A cat was sitting astride the ridge of the roof on my bird house one morning - moved the house now out of harm's way -
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I remember an episode of a cock pheasant and a malinois.
The cock peasant would parade around in the back garden, in that arrogant way that only a cock pheasant can do, wearing its finest bright colourful suit. It learned to tease the malinois who could only bark and whine in frustration behind its compound.
One day the cock pheasant wandered into the garden, and then started to tease the dog, as it would, the dog barking and whining, the pheasant getting braver and closer, when it got really close the dog leapt through the open gate of its compound and the pheasant disapeard in a cloud of torn feathers, a bright rainbow of plumage scattered round the garden as a temporary memorial.
THe dog returned with that slightly scary sly look that only dogs who have temporarily reverted to the wild can exhibit, jaws and teeth bloodstained.
ON the brainpower stakes, Pheasant = none, Dog = quite a lot more.
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If you think that's bad iffy, he swore he went on to birdie the hole.
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Seabird Recognition - rtj70
