February 2011 - Bird Story

Bird Story

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Bird Story - February 2011

Yard Bird Update 25

February 26th 2011 14:01

Here is a photo of one of a pair of thrushes that visit my father’s garden regularly. It is standing on the stone bird bath, but is not a very clear photo - again - sigh.

I tried again, but it turned its back on me….

I patiently waited my chance - but even when it flew to the other bird bath, my luck was out. STILL a blurry photo!

As you can see it was not my day…. Maybe it was the cold frosty weather? But no, in my next post I will share a clearer photo of the same bird taken just a few moments later - what puzzles me is I did nothing different - no altering focus, lens, image style…

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Yard Bird Update 24

February 23rd 2011 17:11

Here is a picture of my wood pigeon friend WP resting on my father’s bird table. Looks kinda cozy in there!

I tried to take some pictures of our thrush in December. Once again, the snow hindered my chances of a good shot - and English birds ar4e far less obliging than Australia ones to camera bearers! However, I admit I should have taken more time to aim without a kettle handle in the view!

Again, I tried to get a shot of our blackbird. I guess you can see that it is black, but…..

Well - I finally did get a few better pictures of our resident thrush, which I will share with you in my next post.

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Yard Bird Update 23

February 19th 2011 14:14

December brought a hefty falling of snow - obliterating much of the soil attracting our birds, necessitating human offerings of food - when one could find the bird table!

Ours was not the only hidden bird table… nor the only yard in the neighborhood with a frozen water bowl or two!

There was not much activity on the tree outside my window - although this blackbird made an appearance briefly - but the snow made it hard to get a good shot.

It soon flew down to the water supply and food table to investigate and I got a slightly better shot, though.

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Yard Bird Update 22

February 15th 2011 17:09

Well this fellow has been visiting most days until this week, right throughout the winter. He seems to know just where to go for cheese, bread, and suet pellets - our bird table!

Here he is sitting on dad’s unused cloche frame that is now tossed up to the back of the yard. This magpie was about to munch a chunk of bread as I managed to catch him.

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The sparrow hawk

February 12th 2011 16:39

The unfortunate sparrow in my last photographic posting is not the only food of this species. Many other small birds become its prey. Along with birds, the largest of which my father has reported to have lost to a sparrow hawk being a turtle dove, mice, frogs and bugs are also consumed.

For once, the female is larger than the male - being circa 3 inches longer. The male measures approximately 30 cm - 12 inches. With a slate-colored upper plumage, the underparts are beige-white-ruddy-ochre. The female has gray barrings underneath. The species can be distinguished by a whitish spot on the back of its neck

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Yard Bird Update 21 - warning dead bird picture

February 9th 2011 18:21

Unfortunately, nature can sometimes be cruel. Witnessing a the life of one bird may entail viewing the death of another. Here are two photographs I took last October of a sparrow hawk attacking a sparrow.

Whilst these photos are not very clear, I have been able to retain information from them far more easily than using just my memory. I am unfamiliar with the sparrow hawk, not having lived here for long, so have had to read up on it to find out more information

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Yard Bird Update 20

February 6th 2011 17:28

Well, I used to have a windowsill covered in pigeons where I used to live. In fact, if it was daytime without a pigeon on the sill, it was a rare occasion. Here, in England, I do not often have birds on the sill though - once a sparrow, once a robin, and a couple of times a dove or wood pigeon.

Here are a couple of pictures of a baby wood pigeon who decided to investigate and take his chances though….

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Yard Bird Update 19

February 2nd 2011 17:08

Back in October 2010, I took a few shots of a magpie. The British magpie is not at all like the Australian black-backed magpie as you will hopefully see.

I admit my photography skills seem to be lacking - but this is partly due to the fact that birds in the UK are not as brave as Aussie ones. They tend to fly away at the sight of me and my camera. In Aussie, some birds flew away, but many stayed and stared as if they were used to such oddities.