February 2012 - Bird Story

Bird Story

follow this blog

14 followers

157 daily readers

rank of 78

E-mail Subscription

Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:

Spotlight Posts

MISSING PIGEONS - lost and found

[ more ]

Bird Story - February 2012

BIRD NEWS:12

February 28th 2012 17:57

Today, I have a couple of photos of our resident thrush to share with you. Winter seems to have allowed it to become a tad tamer - more staring than flying away going on when I took the camera close to the window....

I have hardly had any window-time today to see if i can still spot our friendly thrush - as my father has been ill and I had been sitting in the front of the house for 3-4 hours awaiting the doctor. Also, having enough leftover from our Indian meal yesterday, I did not do any cooking, so was not in the kitchen for very long at all today. The last time I spotted our friendly thrush was Sunday. Now that the weather is warmer, we probably will not see much of it other than if there are young.

Vote

Comments (2)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

BIRD NEWS:11

February 25th 2012 14:59

I have a few odd shots taken earlier this month to share today - the first of which is a Nordic/Scandinavian blackbird. Here you can see it running through the bars between path and veg patch in dad's back yard.

The second photos was taken at a distance - without a good zoom. The bird was either one of the pair of redwings that spent a week in next door's holly tree munching the red berries, or our resident song thrush. Alas, not having a decent zoom or pair of binoculars, I was unable to tell which...

The final two are one good and one artsy shot of the pair of nesting doves sitting on dad's apple tree - next to their nesting tree. For an update on their breeding situation, they are now building a nest in next door's tall tree - the one that has had nesting goldfinches in for 2 years.The male dove was actively collecting grasses for their second nest attempt 2 days ago and yesterday - but seems to have completed it now, as I have not seen the doves today.

Vote

Comments (2)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

BIRD NEWS: 10

February 21st 2012 18:01

Today, I am going to share some pictures of a group of starlings enjoying the plastic bird bath, despite the chilling weather having iced part of it over. This lil fellow seemed to be the bravest - looking hopefully - then trying it out for a drink.

Next, he tried it out for a bath - brrrrrrrrr!

Then, seeing how much their fellow starling was enjoying itself, the rest came along - a few at a time. Maybe the ice was not as cold as it looked....

Shortly after these photos, as a few more massed in the local tree tops - a cat appeared on the scene and they all vanished!

Vote

Comments (2)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

BIRD NEWS: 9

February 18th 2012 14:50

To start with, a picture of a fluffed up bird on the tree outside my window. Unfortunately, I cannot recall taking the photo and have forgotten the story behind its appearance.

Next, the first in a series of bathing starlings. If you look under the bush to the side of the pond on the right, you will spot another bird - waiting it's turn! That is a favored hidey-hole for the birds at the moment, with robins, blackbirds, sparrows, and thrushes all using it to acess the edge of the pond for water or for safety when snacking on a morsel from the bird table they want to keep to themselves. There are several more bathing starling photos to share shortly.

The third shot today is of a dove resting after nesting, perched on top Dad's apple tree. I don't think they have had young - or eggs - as I saw two adult doves together there the other day. However, I have heard the sound of a baby bird - somewhat like a pigeon or dove - so perhaps the eggs only just had the nest made in time and have already hatched....

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (4)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

BIRD NEWS: 8

February 14th 2012 17:07

Today I am going to share some photos of the nesting dove from January - much too early to nest, but... tell him, not me! I particularly like the first photograph - it is almost as if he knew I was taking the photo.

Vote

Comments (2)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

BIRD NEWS: 7 & video link

February 11th 2012 14:03

So many things I see for the first time and wonder if anybody else has ever seen them. You never know if what you see is run of the mill and you yourself have just seen it for the first time, or if it is an oddity that noone else is aware of until you mention it. Some things that I know to be facts are not facts in my guide book - which admittedly is a few decades old. For example, within the past 7 days I have learned through experience that jackdaws and sparrows eat peanuts, thrushes eat cheese, and that robins feed their mates. It doesn't list nuts as jackdaw tucker in my bird book, for example....

There is also much amusement to be found when you watch birds - I spotted a robin dive under the pondside bush with a morsel of food. Moments later a blackbird shot under the same bush from the other side with some food - to be followed quickly by the robin hopping out from the bush and staring back at it

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (2)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

BIRD NEWS: 6

February 7th 2012 14:29

Today, I thought I would talk a little about the common British blackbird. It is one of the birds Dad has had in his garden for as long as I have lived here - aka 1966-1988 and 2009-present.

Most days, I will spot at least one blackbird in the yard. Yesterday, a female blackbird was spotted 'walking on water' on Dad's pond. She was standing on what must have been a chunk of ice under the water and pecking at bugs in the semi-frozen algae. Later on, I spotted her collecting nesting material, and later still, I spotted her grab a chunk of something from the feeding table and munch it on the ground. The resident male, was seen during the day taking a drink from the bird bath, pecking crumbs under the bird table, and chattering from the tree

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (2)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

BIRD NEWS: 5

February 4th 2012 15:58

What an interesting week it has been bird-wise. The late winter cold weather spell has brought out the birds from hiding. Whilst cooking lunch the past couple of days, I have been lucky enough to catch sight of our usual mob along with a redwing, 2 thrushes, and 3 long-tailed-tits. I have not always had my camera on hand though.

What I do have to share with you today are a shot of sparrows on the stone bird bath - and, yes - another shot of a wood pigeon! If my next batch of pictures come out well, I should soon have some dove, blackbird and starling shots to share

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (2)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: sandeye - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

May 2012

5 Posts

April 2012

9 Posts

March 2012